The Glorious Ones
by scrapingskies
Summary: The four clans have fallen under the mighty group known as 'The Glorious.' There is no more Starclan, no more warrior code. Clan life is gone, only The Glorious remain. Shadepaw is a young apprentice fueled by a past she has to keep secret and a longing for revenge against the tom who killed her mother. Secrets will be revealed, some which are better left hidden.
1. Prologue

**Chapter 1:**

 _The night of the Takeover_

 _Midnight_

"I don't understand, mother?" Said Shadekit, "why did we have to leave camp?"

The kit was practically invisible in the dark, her dark grey, almost black, tabby fur melted into the swirling shadows. The only thing that was visible was her bright, glittering green eyes as she looked up at her mother who stood in front of the Moonpool, the reflection shimmering in her blue eyes.

The two looked nothing alike. Whilst Shadekit was an almost black toned cat, her mother, Brightfeather, was a white and ginger queen with beautiful, mesmerising, crystal blue eyes. It was almost impossible that they were mother and daughter.

"We're on an adventure, Shadekit," said Brightfeather, but her voice was gripped with worry and fear.

By extension, this made her own kit feel worried too.

"But this is boring, mother," sighed Shadekit, "can't we go back to camp, the nursery is much warmer than out here. This is just a boring old pond."

"Shadekit!" Scolded Brightfeather, "this is the Moonpool, it is sacred and must be held in the highest regard. This is where we speak to Starclan."

"Starclan?" The kit removed herself from the shadows and walked into the moonlight, "like from the elder's tales?"

Brightfeather regarded her kit. Though she was standing directly within the light, her eyes did not reflect the glow of the moon. She burnt with her own inner light, one that her mother could not comprehend.

"Just like from the elder's tales," her mother confirmed, "we communicate with the spirits here, at the moonpool."

"Can I speak with them?" Asked Shadekit, eyes filled with wonder.

"I-" Brightfeather paused, she didn't know what she would do.

Her brother, Pinefur, was the Thunderclan medicine cat and had told Brightfeather that to communicate with Starclan, you must drink water from the Moonpool and fall asleep. But, that came with problems. All Brightfeather wanted to do was reach out to her ancestors and seek their guidance, but that left her and Shadekit exposed to attack.

And the risk of an attack was certainly impending.

Brightfeather pricked up her ears, but there were no sounds of anything other than the lapping of water and the shuffling of her kit's paws.

"You can't speak with them, Shadekit," she sighed finally.

"Well, what's the point of me being here?" The kit sounded tired and confused, "I want to go back to camp, I'm cold, mother."

"We can't go back, Shadekit."

The little kit blinked, "why not, mother?"

"Because there are some very bad cats there, they might try to hurt us?"

"Why?"

"Because they don't follow the Warrior Code like we do," she explained to her daughter, "they think that they can do whatever they want to whoever they want."

"Oh," Shadekit nodded as though she understood, but she was too young to fully comprehend the current situation.

Brightfeather hated doing this to her kit when she was only two moons old. But Thunderclan, or any clan for that matter, was no longer safe for them to live in. It hurt her to say goodbye to her home, her family, but the consequences of what could happen to her if she returned…

Worst of all, what could happen to her kit…

Brightfeather glanced back at the Moonpool, the overwhelming feeling of wanting to seek comfort from her warrior ancestors threatened to pull her in, but that would mean leaving Shadekit and herself exposed.

"Mother?" Asked Shadekit, padding beside her so she stood at the edge of the pool, "are you going to speak with Starclan?"

"No," Brightfeather said softly, "I…" She sighed, "we have to leave…"

"Are we going back to Thunderclan?" Shadekit's ears pricked up.

"No," she murmured, just loud enough for the kit to hear, "we're going to have to go very far away."

"Will we come back?"

"Probably not."

Shadekit's face fell, crestfallen, "I won't get to become a warrior?"

"I'm sorry, Shadekit," Brightfeather wanted to cry, "but, one day, you'll understand why we had to go away."

"But, mother, I don't want to leave the clans, I have lots of friends there and I have to become a warrior, you told me I could become a warrior!" Her voice, whilst still kit like, was accusatory.

There was something terrifying about little Shadekit in that moment; the way her little green eyes blazed as though they were burning with an inner fire. The way her her dark fur was fluffed up in anger and the fact that her little claws weren't that little. Brightfeather, in a distant, detached way, observed that, maybe someday in the future, Shadekit would make a terrifying warrior.

"I'm sorry," Brightfeather apologised a second time, "but we have to."

"It's not fair!" Sulked the kit, "I'm going home."

The grey she-kit, with all the distaste a cat her age could muster, turned around and began to stride away in her anger. At any other time, Brightfeather might have found her temper and snappiness amusing, but this wasn't a time for this. They were both in real danger.

"There's no Thunderclan anymore, Shadekit," Brightfeather finally sighed, "there's no Thunderclan to go home to."

Shadekit blinked her big, green eyes and turned back around.

"Did the bad cats destroy Thunderclan?"

"Yes," nodded Brightfeather solemnly, "they destroyed and every other clan because they thought that they were wrong for following the Warrior Code."

"But the Warrior Code protects us!" Pointed out the kit as an exclamation.

"It does," nodded the queen, "but they don't think it does. They think that they are right and only they are right. They don't follow the Warrior Code or Starclan. If we stay around, they might hurt us. And I don't want you to get hurt, Shadekit."

"Is that why we have to run away?"

"It is," Brightfeather nodded, "there is a cat that will meet us here soon, he's going to show us where to go."

"Who is he?"

"His name is Red, he's a rogue," Brightfeather continued, "he will know where to take us. They will be a place we can stay, a place where we'll be safe."

"What about Thunderclan?" Gaped the kit, "will they be okay? We can't just leave them!"

"There's nothing we can do," she shook her head.

"But I don't want to live with a mouse-brained rogue!"

"Shadekit!" Scolded Brightfeather, "we mustn't say things like that. Red is a very trustworthy cat. He's probably the only cat we can trust right now," she added the last part on with a mutter.

It was a mutter loud enough for Shadekit to catch, "the only cat?"

"We can't trust any other cat right now," confirmed her mother.

Shadekit blinked, "then what about him?"

Brightfeather, heart racing, followed where Shadekit was pointing with her tail and felt her heart stop.

A handsome, tall tom standing at the top of the path leading down to the Moonpool, looking down on the two she-cats. He looked almost like a silhouette in the night if it weren't for those cold green eyes that seemed to glow brightly in the dark. He was grinning, Brightfeather could tell from this distance, a grin of victory.

Behind him, the figures of other cats stood, waiting for his command.

"Shadekit," she said as calmly as she could, "you need to hide."

"Hide?" She asked, "is that a bad cat, mother?"

"He is," she tried to regain some confidence, "he is a very bad cat."

Nodding, Shadekit slinked back into the shadows. But, at this point, Brightfeather realised how pointless it was. If he had found her… That means someone must've betrayed them.

' _I should've known not to trust Red!'_ She inwardly cursed herself.

"Brightfeather," greeted the tom smoothly, "it's been a while."

"Not long enough, Darkfall," she shot back through gritted teeth.

Darkfall, the tom, made his way down the slope, other cats following him and surrounding the Moonpool. Brightfeather glanced around herself, she was completely surrounded. And where was her kit? Would they find her?

"I should've known you'd be here," sighed Darkfall, suddenly right in front of her, "where else would a Starclan-worshipper like you be?"

He was much, much taller than her. His body was lithe, slim and athletic. He was not terrifyingly large with bulging muscles, but his figure was built in a way that suggested him being a powerful enemy.

"How did you find me?" Her mew was bitter, icy. The tone that she had spoken to her kit in was gone, leaving behind a true warrior.

"We came across a rogue wandering around," said Darkfall with a cocky grin, "I asked him where he was going and he told us that you were here."

"You tortured him," accused Brightfeather, "you tortured Red into giving you the information!"

Darkfall didn't say anything, but he was exactly rushing to deny it.

There was an overwhelming feeling about him. He radiated a kind of likeable charm but, at the same time, came off as a loathsome, despicable cat.

"You're sick and evil, Darkfall," she told him, "I wish you were dead."

"Wow," he pretended to be hurt, "that's not a nice thing to say, now, is it? Honestly, Brightfeather, I was just wondering where you were."

"Then why bring your lackeys with you?" She glanced around at the other cats surrounding them.

"You mean my soldiers?" He didn't spare a glimpse at them, "they're here just in case."

"In case of what?"

He didn't answer that question straight away, he just dismissively flicked an ear and sat down, as though he wasn't in the middle of a tense confrontation right now.

"Just in case you wouldn't come home," he finally said, "this doesn't have to end up in a fight, Brightfeather."

"Of course it does, Darkfall," she spat at him, "I would never return to you or your little group willingly!"

There was a glint of frustration in his eyes, a moment where is cool, charming and calm facade slipped to reveal the monster.

Then he put the mask back on.

"My 'little group' is not just any group, Brightfeather, you of all cats should know this. We are the Glorious Ones, we are just trying to give the clans a better future."

"A better future?" She was bewildered and angry, "how do you plan on doing that? Killing all of them?"

"No," he shook his head, "of course not. We're here to show them a new way of life. A life that doesn't need those lies you call the 'Code' or your little star-cats that prance around in the sky."

His tone was mocking, frustrated, but still calm and controlled, somehow.

"The Glorious Ones are a delusion," Brightfeather's eyes narrowed, "you're deluded." She then turned to face all the other cats, "you're all deluded!"

The soldiers around the moonpool stirred angrily, their claws unsheathed as they glared at Brightfeather, their eyes sparkling with irateness.

Darkfall signalled with his tail for them to calm down and turned back to Brightfeather.

"My soldiers don't appreciate it when you insult them," he said it in his usual tone, but there was a trace of iciness still there, "I can forget this little mission of yours to escape if you just come back to the Glorious willingly."

She made eye contact with him.

Her blazing blue eyes connected with controlled, empty green ones that stared down at her expectantly. He flexed his claws, in a subtle, but threatening manner.

"Never," she said, "I will never return to the Glorious, ever!"

The mask fell off.

A cold, icy cat was exposed, his face twitching with frustration and anger. He suddenly seemed so much taller.

"Well," he growled, "let me reiterate."

Brightfeather's heart pounded with a sudden, creeping fear.

"Return to the Glorious willingly or _die_."

"No." She said firmly, hiding her fear as best as she could.

He sighed, deep and tired; his exasperation showing.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Brightfeather," he said, "Smokefoot is very angry with you, of course. But can you blame him? You betrayed both me and the rest of Glorious, you lied to us all. The only reason that I haven't been ordered to kill you was because I convinced Smokefoot that you were a good cat. Don't prove me wrong."

Brightfeather's face turned stony, "I am a good cat. I follow the Warrior Code, I worship Starclan, but there is one thing I will never do."

Darkfall's face was suddenly overcome by anger.

"I will never follow the Glorious," she finished, spitting at him.

It was so quick, Brightfeather didn't even feel it until it was over. In an instant, Darkfall, using his powerful claws, swiped at the queen, landing a heavy blow on her face, knocking her to the floor. She let out a yowl of pain and blood began to drip from the wound at an unstoppable rate.

Glancing at her reflection, four claws lines marked almost the entire right side of her face. Boiling with anger, she stood up.

But Darkfall was already standing over her.

"Let's get to the point then," he said icily, "where's the kit?"

Brightfeather growled, "How do you know about her?"

"Answer the question," he snarled at her, "where is the kit? Or have you already killed her?"

"She's my own kit! I would never hurt her!"

"Really?" He laughed, a cold, humourless sound, "that's not what I heard. In fact, I heard a conversation between you and Lightstar claiming that you were terrified of your own kit."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said but her body had gone completely rigid.

"'My kit can do strange things,'" He mocked her, "'My kit isn't normal, she's dangerous.' Does it ring a bell?"

Instantly, in that one moment, Brightfeather leapt forwards like a snake, aiming right for Darkfall's neck, her teeth bared. He was quick too, swiftly dodging to the side and pinning her to the ground.

Using his tail to signal, two of his soldiers came round and pushed Brightfeather until she was on her back, pinned to the ground with her head hanging over the Moonpool.

She glared at Darkfall, but her vision was bleary and sleep was threatening to overwhelm her.

"I'm going to give you one last chance, Brightfeather," he said in his usual, calm, collected voice, "tell me where the kit is and you get to live."

She stared at him, one last time. There eyes connecting for the final time ever.

She growled, "no."

Her head was shoved under the water. Panic overtook her instantly. She let out a silent scream and thrashed about, trying to escape.

This was it, it was the end.

She stilled herself and closed her blue eyes for the last time.

* * *

Tucked away in a small, shadowy alcove in the rocky slopes that surrounded the Moonpool, the small, two-moon old watched on in horror as her mother's body stopped moving as she was pushed underwater.

Why hadn't she done anything? Was this her fault? Had she done something to deserve this?

Why wasn't Brightfeather moving? Had she given up? No, the answer was obvious to the kit at what had just happened and, as Shadekit thought, it was probably going to happen to herself as well.

That thought was terrifying, the thought that, at any moment, Shadekit would be found and end up dead, just like her mother. Like her mother… Her mother was dead… The she-cat that had devoted herself to her kit for two moons, looking after her, caring for her when Shadekit had no other parent to support her. Brightfeather had proved herself time and time again that she was the best mother any kit could wish to have.

And now she was dead.

And Shadekit was left without a mother.

She shivered, but it wasn't because of the cold. It was because she was so, so afraid in that moment. Afraid of the dark grey tabby who had just killed her mom.

She slunk further back into the shadows, trying to stop her body from shuddering as the tom's green eyes scanned the area.

"The kit's still here," he said, "find her."

Following the order, the cats surrounding him split up and began to scan the area.

Shadekit, who probably should've taken more notice to this, continued to stare into the dead, lifeless eyes of her mother. Alone. She was alone.

They continued to look for her, but her pelt melted into the dark shadows; as long as she didn't make a sound, she would be okay…

Just stay as silent as possible…

But her mom. Why did Brightfeather have to die? She was still hardly a warrior, let alone a queen. Too short a life.

Shadekit would have a much shorter life if she wasn't careful.

But, as she was hardly a day over two moons old, she could hardly comprehend anything except that 'her mother was dead.'

How was she supposed to know that the cats that were looking for her were far more dangerous than any other?

How was she supposed to know that these cats had just caused destruction for all four clans in one single night?

How was she supposed to know anything?

She was a kit.

A very lonely and a very afraid kit. What came next for her? Not even Starclan knew as Shadekit stood there, shaking, fearful and angry.

Oh Starclan, she was angry, angry at this tom for killing her mother. Angry at Starclan for doing nothing to stop it. But, most of all, she was angry at herself for being so useless.

Angry.

She let out a low growl. Not very loud, not very scary or intimidating. But loud enough for the dark, grey tabby tom with piercing, cold green eyes to catch. He turned around, his eyes narrowing in the direction that Shadekit was hidden in.

He couldn't see her straight away, it was too dark for that. But eventually, his eyes adjusted to the shadows in the alcove and managed to make out a pair of glinting, green eyes and a faint outline of a kit, crouched in the darkness.

Shadekit was in trouble now.

There was no escape now.

Was she going to die? Maybe. Probably. But why?

He was right in front of her all of a sudden, his eyes gleaming in the darkness as he stared down at the kit. He was maybe twice, or possibly even three times her height. He easily towered over her.

"Shadekit?" He said, looking down at her.

The kit suppressed a shiver, fluffing up her fur to make her seem bigger than he actually was. It didn't work.

"What are you doing here on your own?" He asked, but his grin was mocking, degrading, "it's cold."

"Who are you?" She asked in a tone that was supposed to angry but only came out as a squeak.

"My name's Darkfall," he said, "I'm here to bring you home."

"Home?" The kit was bewildered, and very angry, "you killed my mom!"

For a brief second, he looked surprised before recovering. "Don't be silly, now, Brightfeather is fine."

"No, she's not!" She glared at him, her tone accusatory, "I may be a kit but I'm not stupid. You killed my mom, you're evil!"

"Now, now," he shook his head, "there's no reason to be hostile. I'm only trying to help."

How dare he try to be nice after what he'd done? Shadekit shivered again, this time in pure hatred.

"I'm going to kill you," she spat at him, "you're evil!"

Anger flashed in his eyes and, suddenly, he was a lot closer to Shadekit, looking down at her through cold, furious eyes.

"Listen here, kit," he was filled with disdain, "you're going to do what I say or you'll end up just like Brightfeather over there."

Somehow, that shift in his tone, that look in his eye, made Shadekit a lot more afraid than she had been before. Instantly, her brain screamed at her to follow the order. She didn't want to die, she couldn't! And this tom definitely seemed like the tom that would kill her, no regrets.

Then she glanced around him to the body of her mother. Her mom, who had remained defiant until the very last moment.

Shadekit would make her proud.

And she would see her again one day.

In Starclan.

"No," she said, her voice bitter, "I'm not going to do what you say."

Darkfall's eyes blazed, "well then-"

Shadekit closed her eyes.

Starclan, her mom would be in Starclan and she'd see her again.

Shadekit was going to die.

No.

She couldn't die.

Not today. Not tomorrow. Not for a very, very long time.

She opened her eyes.

Shadekit's pelt had heated up, her paws were burning against the stone floor.

"I'm not going to die," she said, slowly, firmly.

Darkfall stumbled backwards in a reaction to something that remained unknown to Shadekit at first.

Then, she looked at her paws.

From her own, tiny paws, a fire was sparking. Was this real? Was any of this real?

Using the distraction to her advantage, she sprinted out of the alcove and towards the path that led away from the Moonpool. Her small legs stretching long distances. She stumbled as she forced herself up the hill, not daring to look behind in case she was jumped on.

Someone was blocking her path. Like a snake, she slid through their legs, using her short stature to her advantage.

Her paws hit grass instead of stone.

What was happening her mind was a blur.

The hill curved into a steep, downwards slope all of a sudden and Shadekit found herself tumbling down at an alarming, uncontrollable rate.

After what felt like forever, she dug her claws into the soft mood and glanced up. No one was chasing her.

Without even taking another moment to think or assess what had just happened…

Shadekit ran.

* * *

 **A/N: The allegiances will be coming out next chapter, I just wanted to get this one up asap.**

 **Hello, just thought I'd let people know that this isn't my first story. In fact, this is my third account (I know). I used to be known as Cityskyliinee and wrote stories such as 'The Frost will Settle' and 'The Cursed Trilogy.'**

 **If anyone who may know me from that old account wants to contact me then please do so on this account as I can no longer access any of my old ones.**

 **Thank you!**


	2. Allegiances, Ranking and Code

**Allegiances**

 **The Glorious**

 **Leader**

Smokefoot- Big, dark grey tom with large paws and yellow eyes

The True Glorious (The highest status a cat can be, if not leader, they do not belong to any camp)

Darkfall- Handsome, lithe, dark grey tabby tom with cold, green eyes

Ivyfall- Beautiful, light, tabby brown she-cat, amber eyes

Whitefeather- white and silver she-cat, blue eyes

Woodenfoot- large, brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Moor Camp (Previously Windclan camp)

 **Overseer (Highest authority in one camp)**

Hawkclaw- Tabby brown tom with big front claws and yellow eyes

 **Second-in-command**

Wavewatcher- Silver tom with blue eyes

 **Medicine cat**

Lightfoot- Pale cream she-cat

 **High-rankers (Warriors who have proved to be the most loyal to The Glorious)**

Bramblefoot- Tabby, brown tom

 _Apprentice, Sootpaw_

Snowdrift- White tom

 _Apprentice, Willowpaw_

Waterdrop- Beautiful, sleek silver she-cat

Ashpelt- Grey she-cat

Shadowfur- Dark, grey she-cat

 _Apprentice, Shadepaw_

Blackwing- Pitch-black tom

 _Apprentice- Whirlpaw_

Robinfur- Brown tom with a white chest

 _Apprentice, Sparrowpaw_

 **Soldiers (Middle ranks)**

Deerfoot- Light brown she-cat

 _Apprentice, Harepaw_

Daisyeyes- White and ginger she-cat

Gooseglare- grey tom

 _Apprentice, Forestpaw_

Pouncepelt- Black and white tom

 _Apprentice, Hollypaw_

Falconswoop- Tabby brown tom

 _Apprentice, Streampaw_

Mapleclaw- Calico she-cat

Crowflight- Grey-black tom

 _Apprentice, Lionpaw_

Hollowfur- Big, brown tom

 _Apprentice, Stagpaw_

Leapfoot- brown and white tom

Dogtooth- Big, brown, tabby tom

 _Apprentice, Jumppaw_

Kestrelpelt- sleek, ginger she-cat

Ashpelt- grey tom with darker flecks

 _Apprentice, Yellowpaw_

 **High-Rank Apprentices (Apprentices of High-Rankers)**

Willowpaw- Silver she-cat with blue eyes

Sparrowpaw- Light brown, tabby tom with amber eyes

Shadepaw- Dark grey, tabby she-cat with piercing green eyes _(Main Character)_

Whirlpaw- Grey and silver tom with blue eyes

Sootpaw- Black furred tom with amber eyes

 **Soldier Apprentices (Apprentices of Soldiers)**

Harepaw- Chestnut furred tom with amber eyes

Streampaw- Silver tom

Lionpaw- Golden furred she-cat with amber eyes

Hollypaw- Black she-cat

Stagpaw- Brown tom

Yellowpaw- grey tom

Jumppaw- Tabby tom

Forestpaw- tabby brown tom with smouldering amber eyes

 **High-ranking Queens**

Dapplefur- Beautiful, silver she-cat (Mother of: Icekit and Rainkit)

Goldeneyes- Pale furred she-cat with yellow eyes (expecting)

 **Soldier Queens (Middle-ranking queens)**

Featherpelt- Silver she-cat (Expecting)

Darkflower- Dark, tabby she-cat (Mother of: Jumpkit, Rabbitkit and Frostkit)

 **Low-rankers (Traitors, prisoners or those who are untrustworthy)**

Foxfur- Ginger she-cat

Blueheart- Silver-blue tom

Kipper- Plump, brown tabby tom (previously a kittypet)

Fire- Ginger tom (Previously a rogue)

Forest Camp (Previously Thunderclan camp)

 **Overseer**

Greypelt- Light grey tom

 **Second-in-command**

Riverring- Silver-grey tom

Marsh Camp (Previously Shadowclan camp)

 **Overseer**

Breezefur- Black she-cat

 **Second-in-command**

Appleclaw- big, ginger, tabby tom

River camp (Previously Riverclan camp)

 **Overseer**

Streamfoot- silver tom

 **Second-in-command**

Tigerpelt- Big, brown, tabby tom

 **Cats outside of The Glorious**

Fairy- A plump, former kittypet with light brown fur, living near the moonpool

Blue- Rogue, silver tom

Stormpelt- Large, grey tom, _formerly of Thunderclan before the fall_

Gorgestar- Dusty brown tom, _formerly of Windclan before the fall_

 **Ranking System:**

 _Leader-_ The highest rank possible in The Glorious. They are not obliged to live in one camp, so instead move from camp to camp every three moons or so

 _Current leader: Smokefoot_

 _The True Glorious-_ The second highest rank possible, one of these cats will succeed the leader when they die. They also are not obliged to stay in one camp, so they also move from camp to camp

 _Overseer-_ The third highest rank, they oversee their own camp, basically in charge unless the Leader or True Glorious are within their camp

 _Current Overseers: Hawkclaw of Moor camp, Greypelt of Forest camp, Breezefur of Marsh camp and Streamfoot of River camp_

 _Second-in-command-_ The deputy to the Overseer

 _High-rankers-_ Cats who have proven themselves to be loyal or were born into a high-ranking family. Treater with respect from lower ranks

 _Soldiers-_ Middle-rankers, cats who have yet to prove themselves loyal or were born into a Soldier family. Must remain loyal and unquestioning at all times

 _Low-rankers-_ The bottom of the barrel, either prisoners, ones who are untrustworthy or traitors. Treated poorly. Last to be fed and to remain silent whenever they're around anyone of a higher-rank. They are not allowed to reproduce.

 _Medicine cat-_ Neutral. Has no rank.

 **Code of The Glorious:**

Always follow a an order from those who are higher-ranked than you. If not, you will be punished

Do not question an order; if you do, you will be punished

Always treat your upper-ranks with respect. If not, you will be punished.

Never worship Starclan. You will be punished

Never follow the old code. You will be punished

Low-rankers eat last every time. The Overseer must always eat the first meal unless the True Glorious or the Leader are in their camp.

Those trying to escape or betray The Glorious will be put as a low-ranker if caught, or killed depending on the weight of their crime.

Those who are higher ranked than you must always be addressed formally

Low-rankers must not reproduce

Low-rankers must not speak unless given permission to do so

Any cat that is too old or too ill and will never benefit the clan, must be killed as they serve no purpose

Medicine cats must not have mates or kits

* * *

 _She couldn't breathe. That was the first thing she noticed._

 _The second thing she noticed was that she was drowning in pure darkness. There was now water, not stars, no sky, no land. Just black._

 _But she wasn't falling._

 _She was drowning._

 _She attempted to reach for something to hold onto, anything. But her paws could not touch the empty surroundings, for there was nothing to touch._

 _Drowning. She couldn't breathe._

 _And it was so, so cold._

 _Closed her eyes…_

 _Suddenly, the world shifted. She was in a forest. There was no sign of a pool of water that she had begun to drown in or any kind of black, empty space. No, she was in a snowy forest in the middle of the night, the moon peeking through the branches. The sky was still a hazy black colour, semi transparent clouds were visible only in the glow of the moonlight. There were still no stars._

 _Recovering, she got her breath back and closed her eyes. Somehow, this landscape caked in snow was much warmer than the black nothingness._

 _Pawsteps! She swiveled around, her eyes scanning the area. No one, no one was here._

 _An empty forest._

 _All of a sudden, she was cold again._

 _Behind her, a cat towered over her. It was him._

 _Just like any other nightmare she had. The same, recurring one. He was always in it, plaguing her dreams, reminding her of what happened that night by the Moonpool, reminding her of how weak she really was._

 _She turned around to face him._

 _Darkfall looked down at her, his face filled with mocking scorn, his eyes gleaming dangerously in the moonlight._

" _Shadepaw," he said calmly, "it's so nice to see you again."_

" _Get away from me, you monster," Shadepaw stumbled backwards, hissing and spitting as she went._

" _Now, now," he said, "you know the code, never disrespect anyone of a higher-rank than you."_

" _Just watch me," she growled, "I will kill you and kill you again if I have to. But I will never, ever respect you."_

 _He didn't do anything._

 _He just laughed._

 _That cold, empty laugh._

 **A/N: Just some quick info to communicate what this is all about and so I won't have to explain it in the actual story. Might update Tuesday or Wednesday, so keep an eye out!**

 **Edit: I've had to add a bit to this chapter as it is a non-story chapter. Basically, I've just added the beging of the first chapter on.**


	3. The Moor

**Chapter 1: Shadepaw**

 _Moor camp_

 _Six moons after the takeover_

Shadepaw awoke from her nightmare with a jolt and a quiet, but still audible, cry. Where was she? Back in the forest? Drowning in the darkness?

No, she was safe. As safe as a cat could be in Moor camp, a place controlled by The Glorious.

Letting out a sigh, she glanced around the den. It was half empty, there were less high-ranking apprentices than usual, which wasn't particularly strange as not many cats had the honour of becoming 'high-ranking.' Beside her nest, Willowpaw's silver flank rose up and down in a deep sleep whilst Sparrowpaw snored loudly from across the den. Sootpaw, near the entrance, also seemed to be snoring just as loud as his brother was, his paws twitching as though he were running through a forest. Disgruntled, Shadepaw rolled her eyes, how did anyone get any sleep in this camp.

For a moment, she considered leaving the den and grabbing some fresh-kill, but she wasn't hungry or keen to leave the warmth of the apprentice's den. On the other hand, she could go back to sleep, but that wasn't an idea she was keen on either.

So, instead, she decided to wash herself. Smoothing down her already sleek tabby pelt. Generally, Shadepaw had managed to build up quite a good look for herself. She was always clean and presentable, her fur so glossy it might as well reflect the sun. Her own body was built slightly above average height and a lithe, athletic frame. Her eyes were almost constantly narrowed, catching every single movement, never missing anything. It was useful, in a way.

"Shadepaw?" A sleepy voice murmured beside her, "what are you doing up."

She glanced down, "nothing, Willowpaw, I'm just not tired anymore."

The long furred, silver she-cat squinted her eyes as she glanced out of the entrance of the den.

"It's not even dawn yet," she said, "plus, you only got to sleep at moon-high, how are you not tired."

Shadepaw shrugged, "I'm just not."

"Shadepaw-"

"Leave it, Willowpaw, I'm not tired. You can go back to sleep or whatever, I'll go get some fresh-kill or something."

Before the silver she-cat could nag her more, Shadepaw left her den to the Moor camp clearing, what had previously been known as Windclan camp, which was practically empty aside from a few cats lounging about.

A couple of low-rankers were lying outside the entrance to their den, their fur matted and dirty, their ribs poking through, their eyes almost glazed over, almost as though they were dead. Neither dared to say a word to each other, it was forbidden for low-rankers to talk to anyone, not even each other, only with permission.

The only other cat who seemed to be awake was Hawkclaw, the clan Overseer. The large, tabby tom was sitting idly on top of Tall Rock, watching the two low-rankers with mild interest, yellow eyes gleaming in a way that made Shadepaw suspicious.

However, when he finally seemed to notice the apprentice, he seemed to perk up a little.

"Shadepaw," he greeted, "you're up early."

She hardly acknowledged him, "I wasn't tired."

She bent over the fresh-kill pile and picked up a squirrel, it was no longer fresh or good-smelling, but it was food all the same.

"Really," the Overseer continued on with the conversation, much to Shadepaw's displeasure, "don't you think you should be trying to get as much sleep as possible, especially considering it's nearly leaf-bare, which means more hard work?"

 _It's nearly leaf-bare?_ She thought, wondering how she had let that slip her mind.

"I'm fine," she said a tone that was disrespectful, but wasn't exactly respectful either.

Above her, Hawkclaw inspected her with interest from atop Tall Rock, his eyes narrowed as though she were some kind of mystery.

Inwardly, she scolded herself for drawing a bit too much attention to herself. That was always a key thing for her to remember, to hide in the shadows as a normal apprentice rather than stick out or even making herself remotely interesting. Because, if anyone found out who she was, she was sure she'd be dead on the spot.

"I don't need much sleep," she explained to him, "and I get up early to get ready to train."

It was a lie, but she wasn't about to tell the Overseer about her nightmares.

Across the camp, as she was the only other cat apart from Hawkclaw in the clearing, she had managed to draw the attention of the two prisoners. They looked at her through, cloudy, glassy eyes, their gaze unwavering and frightening. It unsettled Shadepaw, which was a feeling she rarely felt.

"Well," Hawkclaw said, interrupting her thoughts, "I'll leave you do it then."

Shadepaw shot a quick glare at him, a flicker of disgust.

' _Thank you, '_ she said to him in her head, ' _you filthy tom.'_

She turned away from him and walked back towards her own, settling down beside the sleeping Sootpaw who let out a small mew in his sleep. She looked down at him condescendingly, but also silently wondering what the tom was dreaming of. She began to eat slowly, her eyes narrowed and facing the clearing as she ate the fresh-kill.

Then, she heard a yawn coming from the camp entrance, a dark-grey tom emerged into the clearing, respectfully dipping his head to Hawkclaw and padding towards the Soldier den. It was Crowflight, a soldier. He got up two of his fellow soldiers before entering the den and presumably going to sleep.

One of the soldiers walked over to the high-rank apprentices den and stopped when she saw Shadepaw.

"Will you get up Whirlpaw for me and tell him to meet us by the entrance?" The soldier, Daisyeyes, asked tentativley, "he's on dawn patrol

It wasn't rare for high-rankers to pick on soldiers, but Shadepaw honestly didn't care.

"Sure," she said and watched as Daisyeyes walked off to wake up other cats before calling, "Oi, Whirlpaw!"

Whether it was on purpose or accident, half the den woke up instead.

Annoyed, the grey and white tom lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at Shadepaw, pelt ruffled. "No need to wake up half the den, Shadepaw."

Willowpaw, too, stirred ever so slightly, but Sparrowpaw had shot up the moment a word had left her mouth, and was looking vaguely startled.

"You're on dawn patrol," Shadepaw's voice was monotone, "you can't sleep through all your duties, Whirlpaw."

The apprentice let out a quiet growl, "how do you know I'm on patrol?"

"Daisyeyes asked me to wake you up."

He growled louder this time, "why, that filthy mid-ranker, she thinks that she can-"

"Just go, Whirlpaw," said Willowpaw, who had finally woke up, "no one has time to listen to you and your whining."

Frustrated but defeated, the tom stood up and marched out of the den, going the extra effort to shove past Shadepaw who was hardly affected by the gesture. Stomping over to the centre of the clearing, he only stopped when his mentor cuffed him around the ear and, with a scathing look at Shadepaw, he walked away. Surprisingly, throughout all of the ruckus, Sootpaw stayed asleep.

"Well," sighed Willowpaw, "I guess I'm awake now."

Sparrowpaw snarled and stood up, lashing his tail. "No cat can get any sleep in this den, thanks to you, Shadepaw."

"Sootpaw seems okay," pointed out the dark-furred she-cat in her usual, detached manner

Sparrowpaw flattened his ears, frustration, with the combination of how exhausted he was, glowed in his amber eyes. With a scuff of his paw, he kicked a pebble up from the floor, only to have land perfectly in the centre of Sootpaw's back, who snorted before coming to his senses.

"It's always you, Shadepaw," he continued to growl, "always going out of your way to annoy everyone."

"Don't have a go at me, okay, Sparrowpaw?" A flicker of annoyance crossed her usual unresponsive features, "I know you and Whirlpaw sneak out every night. That's the only reason you're ever grumpy in the morning. So I'd watch your tongue unless you want me to let that slip to your mentors."

For a moment, Sparrowpaw looked torn before letting anger take over his features, "you're such a fox-heart, Shadepaw!"

With that, he too stormed out of the den.

Sootpaw, who had finally seemed to have fully woken up, glanced around through bleary eyes.

"What?" He said.

Willowpaw ignored him, "he's got a point, Shadepaw, you shouldn't push him like that."

"It's funny," she shrugged in response, "plus, it's not like you even like Sparrowpaw, or Whirlpaw for that matter."

"Yeah, that doesn't mean I go around annoying them. Don't you think that they hate you enough already?"

Shadepaw dead-panned a look of boredom, before getting to her paws, "Shadowfur's up," she said, "I'm going to see if she needs me for anything."

"Hey!" Called Sootpaw as she left, "what's going on? Why's everyone arguing?"

Willowpaw didn't stick around to answer his question, instead gently trotting up to Shadepaw's side as she strode through the clearing which was now beginning to get busier.

"I'm just looking out for you," the silver apprentice said softly, "from sister to sister."

Shadepaw shot her a glance.

"Oh, come on!" Willowpaw's frustration came back, "don't act like that! We were raised together from when we were two moons old! We're basically sisters."

Shaking her head in a dismissive way, Shadepaw turned her head away, inwardly steaming at Willowpaw's words. When she reached her mentor, she was glad to an end to the conversation. Shadowfur was a dark grey she-cat with dazzling amber eyes that seemed to radiate sun-light every time she looked at Shadepaw. At the same time, she still managed to remain the perfect balance to her apprentice's cold, detached personality. Whilst Shadowfur wasn't overly emotional, she knew the significance of having feelings and relationships. It was one of the reasons Shadowfur was a cat that Shadepaw could respect and learn from, even though she was a loyal member of The Glorious. Beside her, sat Snowdrift, a white tom and Willowpaw's mentor.

"Shadepaw," nodded Shadowfur in greeting, "it's good to see you awake, did you get enough sleep?"

"Of course," she said.

Shadepaw didn't miss the way Willowpaw sent her a doubtful look, but it wasn't a full lie. Shadepaw could say for certain that she wasn't tired and was fully prepared to start another full day of training.

"What are we doing today, then?" Asked Willow, regaining some of her old perkiness.

It was Snowdrift who answered, "today, we've been given a special mission."

"What?" Questioned Willowpaw, leaning in as though she was looking forward to his answer.

"We will be joining Wavewatcher's patrol to act as messenger to the Forest camp, which will mean that you get a day off training?"

"A day of training? Shadepaw let more of her disappointment slip into her voice than she had intended.

"Of course," Shadowfur said sternly, "It's a big responsibility and should be treated as such. You've already ate, Shadepaw, but you need to get some prey too, Willowpaw, we'll be leaving shortly."

The two were dismissed and Shadepaw followed Willowpaw, consumed by her thoughts.

So she was on a messenger patrol to Forest camp? That was something. Messenger patrols were the way The Glorious kept one another updated between their moonly meetings. Their would at least be four visits to each separate camp per moon, which was a lot but The Glorious were too uptight about their rules to let anything slip. So, that was the way.

Shadepaw had never been on a messenger patrol before, but, one thing she knew for certain was that she wasn't overly keen on the idea of going to Forest camp.

It was her old home, where she had spent the first two moons of her life growing up up until her mother…

Shadepaw closed her eyes and forced the memories away.

Or course she hadn't forgotten about her mother. She may be living a normal life in Moor camp now, but she hadn't forgotten about what had happened, she hadn't forgotten about that _murderer_. She may be hidden in plain sight from the Glorious, but that wasn't going to last for too much longer.

' _Just you wait, Darkfall,'_ she said to herself _, 'when I'm fully trained, I am going to kill you, no matter what it takes. I'll do it for Brightfeather.'_

And nothing would stop her.

Nothing.

* * *

 **A/N: So, dramatic chapter. I think the next one might be longer but don't hold me to that. I definitely think that Willowpaw and Shadepaw's dynamic is interesting indeed. And, don't worry, I will be explaining how Shadepaw ended up in Moor clan over the next few chapters or so.**

 **And feel free to leave any questions or suggestions in the review sections and I'll be sure to answer them in the next chapter!**


	4. The Soldier

**Reviews**

 **Imprisoned Wings- Thank you! And a lot of Shadepaw's personality has to do with what she witnessed as a kit. A part of why I love her is because, without context, she would just come off as a bit bitchy but, when you know the full story, you can tell she does have a real motivation for her attitude. Thank you for the review**

* * *

 **Chapter 2:**

Forestpaw wasn't too keen on the idea of joining the messenger patrol, especially if Sparrowpaw was to be on it too. Both Sparrowpaw and Whirlpaw weren't exactly favourites amongst the other soldier apprentices due to the relentless bullying, and Forestpaw didn't like the idea of sharing a patrol with him.

On the other hand, he did have his best friend, Hollypaw, a completely black she-cat with a warm heart but a mean bite. She was sitting beside her mentor, idly waiting for the patrol to begin as they waited for the final few cats. Sparrowpaw wasn't too far away from them, staring daggers at the dirt like it had done him wrong.

The patrol was large, but so were most messenger patrols. Four soldier cats; Hollypaw, Forestpaw, Goose Glare and Pouncepelt. As well as seven soldiers; Sparrowpaw, Robinfur, Wavewatcher, who was second-in-command, as well as Shadepaw, Willowpaw and their two mentors.

Shadepaw and Willowpaw were easily more tolerable than most high-rankers. Willowpaw seemed to have a justice streak with stepping in between fight and arguing with Sparrowpaw and Whirlpaw whenever they picked on them. Shadepaw, on the opposite end of the spectrum, stayed out of it most the time.

That was the kind of cat Shadepaw came off as, an observer. Her eyes were always narrowed in thought, always sitting a little way off from everyone else as though she looked down on them, as though she was some kind of higher power. Her words were few but, when she did speak, she was either there to argue or to answer a question. She wasn't one to initiate conversations, and she was definitely the first cat to end them.

In a way, it made Shadepaw pretty unpopular. Forestpaw reckoned was that the only reason half the clan tolerated her was that of her intelligence and skills.

The said she-cat came to a stop just behind Wavewatcher who hardly acknowledged her, her face was impassive and disinterested as usual. Willowpaw sat beside her, giving a quick smile to Forestpaw who smiled back.

"We ready to go then?" Asked Wavewatcher, voice edged with impatience.

"By the looks of it," nodded Shadowfur, Shadepaw's mentor.

"And the soldiers?" Wavewatcher turned to Gooseglare who respectfully dipped his head.

"We're ready to go too."

"Good," the second-in-command tuned sharply towards the entrance, "then let's get moving. apprentices stick to the rear, you're our lookouts."

The patrol began to move, Hollypaw and Forestpaw fell to the back of the patrol, leaning their heads together as they began to talk.

"So," whispered Forestpaw, out of earshot of their mentors, "are you going to come tomorrow night?"

"Of course," the black furred apprentice replied, her voice quiet but excited, "the gatherings are always so fun! Who else is going?"

"Well," he thought about it, "I think Jumppaw and Harepaw are on escort duty for the high-rank gathering, so they can't come. Yellowpaw is guarding the camp so…" he pondered it for a couple seconds longer, "Stagpaw, Lionpaw and Streampaw are going."

"That's a lot of us missing," observed Hollypaw, "are you sure that they won't notice."

"Who would care?" Scoffed Forestpaw, "as long as we're back before dawn it doesn't really matter."

"I guess," nodded Hollypaw, but she still looked uneasy, "are any of the high-ranking apprentices going?"

"Well obviously not Sparrowpaw or Whirlpaw," Forestpaw told her, "but I reckon that Willowpaw might want to come."

At the sound of her name, the silver she-cat turned around to look at the two, her eyes curious, but not hostile. Ahead of her, Sparrowpaw let out a snort of disbelief, as though it were shocking that Willowpaw, a high-ranker, would ever even acknowledge a soldier. On the other hand, Shadepaw gave no signs that she had even reacted.

"Come to what?" Asked Willowpaw.

"Well…" Explained Forestpaw, "you know how some of the apprentices have their own gathering every full-moon, we wondering if you wanted to come?"

"On the full moon?" She asked but, when he nodded, she shook her head, "I can't, I've been invited to the actual gathering."

"Oh," Forestpaw couldn't help but feel disappointed, Willowpaw was always fun, "what about you Shadepaw?"

"I'm going to the high-rank gathering too," said the dark-furred she-cat, without turning around or acknowledging him in any way other than a short statement.

"Sucks for you," laughed Hollypaw, "I heard high-rank gatherings were boring."

"Is it true that all the True Glorious go on and talk for ages?" Asked Forestpaw, his eyes glittering with his teasing tone.

Willowpaw didn't look amused, "quiet, Forestpaw, you know what would happen if Wavewatcher heard you."

All the apprentices, apart from Shadepaw, flattened their ears and looked to the adult warriors, who remained oblivious to their conversation.

"Honestly," said Sparrowpaw, his tone one of superiority, "you and your stupid mini gathering aren't even that good. It's just an excuse for all the little Soldier apprentices to feel like they can be high-rankers. Well, sorry to break this to you, filthy rats, but you're just that, rats."

Willowpaw hissed, "leave them alone, Sparrowpaw, they haven't done anything to you."

"It's fine, Willowpaw," Forestpaw said bitterly, "we can stick up for ourselves."

"Oh, can you?" Sparrowpaw had a gleam in his eye, "what're you gonna do? Insult me? If you haven't forgotten, you're a soldier and I'm a high-rank, you can't do anything to me."

As usual, the only sign that Shadepaw was listening was the way her head was slightly tilted to look at Sparrowpaw.

"We don't need to insult you to know we're better than you, Sparrowpaw," Hollypaw glared at the higher-rank.

Sparrowpaw let out a low growl, "I don't know about you, but that _did_ sound a lot like an insult."

"Oh yeah?" She snapped back, "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Well I oughta tell Wavewatcher that you're breaking the code of conduct," Sparrowpaw laughed to himself, "You're disrespecting me!"

"Well, you're disrespecting me, you low-life high-ranker!"

Anger flashed in his eyes and he stopped to tower over Hollypaw, "listen here, you little-"

"Leave it, Sparrowpaw," Shadepaw finally cut in, "you're slowing the patrol down."

The tom let out a snarl but seemed to give up. His claws sheathed and unsheathed repeatedly before glancing back at the patrol, which was walking away from them. Viciously, he turned back to the two soldiers.

"I'm not done with you," he snarled, "mark my words."

"No one's trying to get aggravate you, Sparrowpaw," Shadepaw went on, flashing a warning glance at Hollypaw when she scoffed in disbelief, "let's just leave it here."

"Whatever," he glared at Shadepaw, "why should I listen to you, rogue?"

Shadepaw didn't even flinch as Sparrowpaw shoved his face into hers, nor did her expression shift from a passive, bored look.

"I'm not saying you have to listen to me," she said slowly, as though he were a stupid kit, "I'm just trying to stop everyone from doing something rash."

"You're the last cat that's allowed to say that to me."

"I'm not rash, Sparrowpaw," she said firmly, "I'm just reasonable, now let's get a move on before you get us all in trouble, got it?"

The anger on his face grew, would he back down? Forestpaw watched the scene unfold with interest and a small feeling of fear at the look in Shadepaw's piercing green eyes.

Shadepaw seemed to guess that the apprentice wasn't done.

"Don't push me, Sparrowpaw," she said in that same, commanding tone, "you don't know me, got it? I'm not trying to take sides, I'm just trying to stop an annoying argument. You two can go back to fighting if you want, but we have a Messenger patrol to do. So go back to bullying Soldiers if that's what you do now."

With that, she turned away, not even glancing back as she sped up to catch up with the rest of the patrol. Eyes narrowed at the group, Willowpaw then chose to follow after her friend, but not before sending a spiteful look at Sparrowpaw.

Forestpaw and Hollypaw glanced between one another, neither had quite experienced Shadepaw getting quite so involved in anything before. Sparrowpaw, too, looked taken off guard. But he then let his furious expression come back over his features and stomped over to the patrol, snarling at the two Soldiers.

Hollypaw ran ahead of him, but Forestpaw was too deep in thought.

Everyone knew that Shadepaw was a rogue, especially Sparrowpaw. But was there something more?

* * *

"That was nice of you, you know," said Willowpaw as she caught up with Shadepaw.

The dark tabby wasn't listening, she was too busy brooding over the name Sparrowpaw had used to describe her.

A rogue? She wasn't a rogue, she was a born and bred Thunderclan cat, it wasn't her fault that that had all been ripped away from her. She unsheathed her claws unconsciously. Stupid Sparrowpaw, pretending that he knew anything about her. Of course, he didn't! How could anyone! No one knew who she was, no one! No one could know what really happened.

"He doesn't know me," she accidentally muttered aloud.

"What?"

Shadepaw realised what she said and glanced up at Willowpaw who was looking at her, confused.

"Nothing," she covered up, "just thinking aloud."

"Well," the silver she-cat still looked stony and suspicious, but seemed to shrug it off, "I was just saying that you sticking up for the Soldiers was nice."

"I was only trying to make sure that we wouldn't get in trouble."

"Don't lie," there was a hint of tease in her tone, "I know you just hate Sparrowpaw."

"He's annoying," she said, "but I don't hate him."

"Sure," Willowpaw rolled her eyes before turning back to Shadepaw with a serious face, "seriously, though, what was that all about?"

"What was what all about?"

"Well, when he called you a rogue, you got really upset. I get it, it's a fox-hearted thing to say but you rarely ever get offended by anything, I just found it surprising was all."

Shadepaw was ready to feed Willowpaw lies about how she wasn't a rogue, she was a part of The Glorious. But how could she lie to her? Willowpaw, the sister she had never had. Sometimes, Shadepaw felt as though the silver she-cat deserved a better friend.

"I don't know," she lied anyway, "it just got to me."

"Just so you know, you're family to me, Shadepaw."

Shadepaw blinked her green eyes, the statement was already one that she knew but was somehow reassuring to hear.

Willowpaw, her sister.

No! Was she already forgetting Brightfeather? She couldn't let herself get too attached, it would just be another obstacle to her mission. Willowpaw wasn't her sister, Moor camp certainly wasn't her home and no cat who even believed in The Glorious couldn't even be _considered_ a friend. It was wrong plain wrong.

"Sorry, Willowpaw," Shadepaw said, voice turning icy again, "but we're not family."

With that, she strode on ahead, head held high, Willowpaw not even bothering to catch up, her blue eyes shining with the feeling of betrayal.

' _No,'_ thought Shadepaw, ' _how could I even stick up for any of these cats? How could I consider them friends?'_

She glared at Wavewatcher walking at the front of the patrol.

' _It's all The Glorious' fault,'_ she realised _, 'everything and everyone inside of it, who has the audacity to believe in their stupid code needs to realise the truth.'_

Shadepaw didn't need Willowpaw, and she certainly didn't need anyone else.

Trust no one.

* * *

 **A/N: What do you think about Shadepaw's choice to be rude to Willowpaw? Do you think her philosophy is right?**

 **I'd appreciate it if you left a review, it really helps motivate me to write.**


	5. The Rogue

**Reviews**

 **Imprisoned Wings- Don't worry, the whole thing about Shadepaw coming to Moor camp will be explained in the next few chapters.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:**

Shadepaw blinked at the sun, squinting at the sudden way the light appeared from behind the cloud and warmed up the grass beneath her feet. It did little to warm up the frosty feeling of the afternoon, a reminder of the inevitability of leaf-bare. With no trees or undergrowth to shelter her on the Moor camp area, it was difficult to escape the icy winds that cut through the long grass and ruffled cat's fur.

Sighing, the dark pelted she-cat glanced ahead of her. A line of trees was ahead of the patrol, along with a small dip in the grass, the banks of the stream that separated Forest camp from Moor camp.

When they finally reached it, Shadepaw noticed the heavy flow of water tumbling down the stream and into the distant lake, where had it been raining hard enough to produce this much water. Twitching her nose, she glanced to her left, looking up to the sky. Rolling, grey clouds could be seen from over the top of the far-away mountains.

"A storm is coming," said Shadowfur, as though reading her thoughts.

Feeling as though there was nothing to add to her mentor's statement, Shadepaw remained silent and followed Wavewatcher of the stream, nimbly jumping across the stepping stones. Once she reached the other side, she waited for the other apprentices. Willowpaw, whilst slower, seemed to remain unchallenged by the damp rocks and smoothly reached the other side, it was the same with Sparrowpaw and the Soldier, Hollypaw.

Forestpaw, on the other hand, let his paw slip, a forgivable mistake considering how wet it was underfoot due to the gushing river. It didn't stop Sparrowpaw from going out his way to laugh obnoxiously.

It seemed, observed Shadepaw as the Soldier apprentice got back upright, that there was a lot more tension amongst the apprentices than there were before, especially between herself and Willowpaw and their argument. She chose not to focus on that though, only on the journey at hand.

"We'll be meeting the Forest camp Messenger patrol atop that hill," Wavewatcher gestured to a fairly steep slope with his tail.

"Up there?" Said Sparrowpaw, without thinking, "it'll be freezing! What moron came up with that idea?"

"Careful, Sparrowpaw," said Wavewatcher with a hint of threat in his voice, "don't forget who you're talking to."

Alarmed, the tom shuffled his paws and looked down at the grass, the form of submission

Nodding to himself, the second-in-command turned with the whip of his tail and signalled for the patrol to follow him. Shadepaw prevented herself from snidely snarling at Wavewatcher and the way he had smugly threatened an apprentice, even though Sparrowpaw was rude. Shaking her head, she padded after her mentor, glancing back at the rolling storm clouds.

Rain. It reminded her of the day she came to Moor camp.

It had been raining that day too.

How long had it been? A day? Two days? Shadekit was so, so hungry and was her fur was soaking. When was the last time she ate? In Thunderclan camp, if Thunderclan camp still existed. Where was the camp? She wasn't sure, after running from the Moonpool her world had been a daze. Constantly falling unconscious only to be plagued by terrible nightmares, and then to wake up in the cold, empty forest with an empty belly. She was a kit, hardly off her mother's milk, what was she supposed to do?

And then she had found the stream, thundering loudly in the violent rain that poured from the heavens. She shivered at the relentless water that bucketed down the hill towards the grey, shimmering lake in the distance.

How was she supposed to cross this? She would get swept away in the water, swept into the lake and under the blanket of grey water to drown.

Just like her mother.

Maybe it would be for the best…

No, she wasn't going to let herself give up again! She had to find a way to cross.

A way to get over.

But it was still raining. Raining so hard. She was so cold.

Shadepaw was jostled out of her day-dream at the sudden unfamiliar scent of Forest cats swept over her, filling her head with even more blurred memories of her old home, Thunderclan camp. Cursing herself for letting her guard drop for even a second, she looked to confront the new cats.

The leader of the patrol was a silver-grey tom with glittering amber eyes and a surprisingly warm grin as he looked at Wavewatcher.

"Wavewatcher," said the tom, "it's been a long time."

The Moor camp second-in-command didn't look too thrilled to be seeing the other tom, "well, Riverring, I'm only here to do my job."

"I suspected that was the reason," Riverring flicked his ear good-humoredly.

"Let's get down to business, then," Wavewatcher already looked uncomfortable, "how are things in Forest camp?"

"All is good here," Riverring glanced back at his own patrol who were looking fairly bored, "now, I'd say we should introduce some of our new cats. I've met Sparrowpaw and Willowpaw already, of course."

Willowpaw dipped her head whilst Sparrowpaw seemed overly-excited at being acknowledged and even remembered by the Forest camp second-in-command.

"Yes," Wavewatcher said dryly.

"But I don't think I've met you," Riverring looked at Shadepaw.

The dark-furred cat's impassive look hardly shifted.

"This is Shadepaw," said Shadowfur, "my apprentice, and one of the best in the camp."

Riverring, much to Shadepaw's surprise, regarded her with a strange amount of curiosity. His amber eyes were intent on looking at Shadepaw before shifting back to Shadowfur.

"The best in the camp?" He repeated, "I would expect no less from the apprentice of Shadowfur."

The dark grey high-ranker dipped her head at the praise and sat in silence as the meeting went on. Shadepaw, whilst observing the conversation and talk that took place, couldn't help but notice the way Riverring's eyes kept shifting back to her, in a way that implied her recognised her.

Then again, the tom might've been a Thunderclan cat before the takeover… There was always a chance…

Shadepaw remained silence until the meeting was over and found herself sitting next to an apprentice from Forest camp.

"Hi," she whispered, "you're Shadepaw, right?"

The dark tabby she-cat regarded her before answering, "I am."

"Cool," the she-cat went on, "I'm Emberpaw."

The she-cat looked a moon or so younger than Shadepaw, though her ginger pelt shone amazingly in the sunlight and her emerald green eyes beautifully reflected the surrounding landscape, beaming with excitement.

"I'm a Soldier, by the way," she went on, "but you look like a High-ranker, you are a high-ranker, right?"

Shadepaw took a moment to comprehend the question, it was rare that anyone of a lower rank would ever talk to those higher-up at all, let alone in the way Emberpaw was. Though, Shadepaw being Shadepaw, she didn't particularly care about her attitude to the system.

"I am," she told her.

Emberpaw nodded, as though this was one of the most important pieces of information ever.

"Well, Shadepaw," she went on, not put off by Shadepaw's short and dismissive answers, "are you going to the Apprentice Gathering tonight?"

Shadepaw shook her head, "I have the high-rank gathering."

"Well that's a shame," the ginger cat rambled on, "you see, you seem like a nice cat. I think I would like to talk to your more often, I think."

It was rare that Shadepaw could be taken off guard by any cat, but Emberpaw was certainly doing just that. No, there was definitely something suspicious about her, something off. Something that Shadepaw couldn't quite put her paw on.

Then, the meeting was over and the two parted ways. Shadepaw glanced back at Emberpaw over her shoulder and found that the ginger cat was looking at her, eyes narrowed. Unsettled, she turned back around to follow the Moor camp patrol back.

Now, looking up at the sky, the storm seemed to be rolling much closer, it would be wet gathering tonight. Shadepaw glanced back at the stream, the current had grown even more thunderous and loud.

The kit was only halfway across the slippery stepping stones when she saw a massive wave charging towards her. Horrified, Shadekit froze, coming to the realisation that she would never make it in time across. No, she was surely dead.

Not yet, Shadekit was determined to live. For her mother.

She jumped, her claws digging into the grassy bank on the opposite side of the stream. In that same instant, the wave hit her.

What felt like an eternity of swirling, cold foam and the stinging of quick moving water hitting her face, actually only lasted a couple of seconds and, somehow, by the end of it, Shadekit was left still hanging on by her life. Without hesitating, she pulled herself up onto the grass and lay down, going into some sort of shock.

Now, she was definitely drenched. If the freezing cold rain hadn't been enough, the stream had certainly soaked her to the bone. Despite the water, she felt warm. So much warmer compared to how she had felt earlier. Her body was burning up underneath her pelt to the point where she felt uncomfortable and dizzy. She didn't deserve this. She was only a kit.

But she could hardly take it any longer, her vision was fading.

Just before she fell unconscious, she saw a patrol of cats approaching her.

"Shadepaw?" A voice knocked her out of her trance, "were you listening?"

Shadepaw glanced up to see Willowpaw looking at her, her eyes shining with the usual amount of concern and worry she usually directed to Shadepaw that, often, she felt that she didn't deserve.

"No," she said, "I zoned out. What's going on?"

She noticed that the patrol had basically disappeared, only leaving behind the apprentices.

"Our mentors told us to hunt on our own for a bit," informed Willowpaw.

"Did they?" Shadepaw looked up, impassive, "I wasn't listening."

"I could tell," Willowpaw kicked the ground, inwardly frustrated, "I'll see you later, then."

Shadepaw didn't acknowledge the reaction, instead of turning to move away. "Yeah, see you."

Being on her own was a much better feeling than it was in the group, the dark-furred tabby finally felt as if she had space to breathe as she silently stalked after a rabbit through the long grass, tailing twitching in anticipation.

Even though life at the camp was stressful at times, Shadepaw couldn't help but feel bored most of the time. Sure, she was well trained in combat and hunting and stealth and it wasn't like she was completely lonely. But a life hiding and anticipating could feel like a drag. Though, she supposed, it would be worth it in the end. Having to associate with those filthy cats who called themselves 'The Glorious' was difficult but, it would be worth it.

It would be worth it when she could look into the eyes of the tom who killed her mother and feel her own claws sinking into his flesh and ripping his throat out.

It was a nice thought.

There was a sound. A very slight sound that Shadepaw managed to pick up regardless. The rabbit she was stalking did too.

It only had a split second to escape when a different, unfamiliar ball of fur jumped onto it, the rabbit just dodging its paws and running back into the undergrowth. The new cat, whoever he was, cursed and pulled himself back to full height.

Now, through the grass, Shadepaw could see him. He was a large, grey tom with scars zig-zagging his body and pale blue eyes that, despite his missed prey, seemed to remain alight with optimism. Shadepaw instantly got the vibe that this cat would be annoying. Yet, at the same time, those blue eyes were so familiar.

As silently as she could, she moved forward the long grass until she was only a tail-length away.

She leapt out, landing a solid blow across his back. He let out a surprised yowl and stumbled backwards as she landed on all four paws smoothly, her claws still unsheathed as she glared up at the intruder.

He, for a second, seemed to be taken off-guard by her, though she guessed this was probably because of her size.

"Who are you?" She growled, still in attack position.

He snarled back, "I don't speak to filthy Glorious cats."

She made a split second decision. In one quick movement, she had jumped back into the air and barreled into him with full force, knocking him to the ground. Then, she leapt on top of him before he could react, pinning him to the ground.

"Who are you?" She repeated, "a rogue?"

"I'm no rogue," he growled, "I'm just not a Glorious cat."

"Listen here, rogue," she spat at him, "I'm giving you a chance here, get out of here and no one has to know you were ever here."

"Where's your mentor?" He struggled underneath her, "I'm sure they wouldn't like the idea of their apprentice showing mercy to an outsider."

"Don't think I care about you, rogue," she said, "I'm giving you one chance and one chance only. Who are you?"

He choked a little and glared up at her, "I'm Stormpelt, of Thunderclan."

Her face twisted back into her usual, neutral expression, "of Thunderclan? There is no more Thunderclan."

"Maybe not to Glorious scum like you," he snapped, "but I am still loyal to the warrior code and to Starclan."

She growled, angry again, and dug her claws back into them.

"I am not scum," she told him in a low, deadly voice, "and I am not a Glorious cat, listen, okay? My name is Shadepaw, are you part of resistance?"

He looked at her, "Shadepaw?"

"That's me," she confirmed.

"Daughter of Brightfeather?" His voice was hoarse.

She got off of him, feeling stunned for the first time she had in awhile, "you remember her? You remember me?"

"How could I forget," he muttered softly, "she was my sister, we were raised together, in the same nest, in the same den. I was there when she had you, of course. But, I thought… After the takeover… If your still alive, that means-"

"She's dead, Stormpelt," Shadepaw told him, "she was killed on the night of the takeover by the Moonpool. I only just managed to escape."

Stormpelt sighed, crestfallen but not surprised at all. He looked back up at Shadepaw, eyes shining.

"How did you end up here?" His voice had turned back to a threat, "did you willingly join The Glorious?"

"No," she got close to his face, glaring up at him, "I was a kit, alone and scared after watching my mother get killed. Moor clan camp took me in without even knowing who I was, they just thought I was some lost rogue. And I plan on keeping that way until I can leave."

Stormpelt blinked, "why don't you just leave now?"

Shadepaw shook her head, "I have business to settle."

"With who?"

"With Darkfall," she said, "he killed my mother."

Stormpelt watched her curiously, "and how do you plan on taking him down?"

"I didn't know at first," she said, "But now, with you here, it might be easier."

"How so?" He asked.

Her eyes were calculating, "because you're with the resistance, and I want their help."

Stormpelt regarded her cautiously, as though he were still making up his mind. But, Shadepaw heard something.

"There's someone listening to us."

* * *

 **A/N: So, that's it. Believe me, we will be seeing Darkfall again soon… Anyway, who do you think was listening to their conversation? What're your opinions on Stormpelt and Emberpaw? Do you think they're trustworthy?**


	6. The Eavesdropper

**Chapter 4:**

She was on him in a flash, pinning him underneath her claws after she had she walked the eavesdropper out of the tall grass and into sight. Behind her, Stormpelt was snarling aggressively, claws unsheathed and ready to attack.

"Forestpaw?" Shadepaw was momentarily taken off guard by the Soldier before growing angry again, "How dare you spy on me?"

The dark tabby tom looked surprised to see her as well and tried to scramble back away from her, put her strength was overwhelming.

"I was hunting when I saw you-" he was stuttering, shocked, "talking to him- how? Shadepaw? You're a traitor!"

But he was panting heavily, just having the wind knocked out of him, he could hardly finish his sentence.

"Who is this cat?" Said Stormpelt, "is he trustworthy?"

Shadepaw narrowed her vivid green eyes, "he's an apprentice, a Soldier, not a high-ranker. And, no, he's not trustworthy."

"Hey!" He cried in protest.

"I hardly know you, Forestpaw," she snarled right to his face, "what makes you think I can trust you at all?"

"Should we kill him?" Suggested Stormpelt, "attack him?"

Forestpaw looked horrified but Shadepaw waved dismissively with her tail.

"If you don't get off me," the Soldier growled at her, "I'll-" he thought for a moment, "I'll yowl so loudly so Willowpaw can hear me. What would she think if her best friend was a traitor, liar and associating with resistance scum."

"If you say one more thing, Soldier," she said calmly, but threateningly, "I'll have no choice but to scratch out your eyes, hear me? It's your word against mine, Forestpaw."

Forestpaw instantly fell silent.

Stormpelt, looking slightly taken back from the violent threat, got to his paws, "is he a threat?"

"Not too much of one," Shadepaw shook her head, "he's a lower rank than I, whilst some of his Soldier friends might believe him, no one of a higher-rank would..."

"But…" Stormpelt prompted when he realised she probably had something else on her mind.

Shadepaw sighed, looking away from Forestpaw and at Stormpelt, "it would mean drawing unnecessary attention to myself, and that's the last thing I need."

"So," Stormpelt moved closer to her and towered over the still-pinned Forestpaw, "what do we do?"

Shadepaw turned to the other apprentice, "do I have your word that you'll keep your trap shut about all this?"

Forestpaw, whilst looking thoughtful, also had a mischievous and curious glint in his eyes. Shadepaw realised that the tom wasn't about to let her reverse out of this mistake as easily as she would've liked.

"Well?" She pressed him, annoyance creeping up her spine.

The Soldier mindlessly flicked his tail as he spoke, "I promise I won't say anything… if…"

As soon as the word 'if' left his mouth, Shadepaw tensed and Stormpelt growled, but he went on anyway.

"If you explain what I just heard," he said, grinning cheekily.

Shadepaw dug her claws into him, causing him to let out a whimper of shock rather than pain, and got close to his face, so their noses were practically touching.

"Listen here, Glorious scum," she said, growling, "I don't have to tell you anything, got it? You think you can be sassy with me but I will rip your throat out, just watch me."

"Woah! Woah!" Stormpelt cut in instantly, giving her a look of warning, "we don't want a murder on our paws. Even if it is Glorious scum."

Forestpaw still looked a bit woozy after the threat, despite Stormpelt's intervention.

Shadepaw looked increasingly frustrated but kept quiet as the Resistance member went on.

"Look," he was addressing Forestpaw now, "I know that you're probably confused about what's going on, and I don't know how much you heard of the conversation but just know that it would be preferable if, for your own sake, you'd just pretend you didn't hear anything and move on with your life."

"Why should I?" The apprentice asked defiantly.

Stormpelt sighed, "look, apprentice, I'm trying to help you here. I don't Shadepaw very well but, if she's anything like her mother, I don't think she'd feel too guilty about killing you."

Forestpaw stiffened underneath Shadepaw's claws, but the she-cat wasn't looking at him.

"But I'm sure she won't be killing anyone," Stormpelt continued, glaring at Shadepaw, "as long as everyone just stays calm and does as they're asked to."

Forestpaw, still thinking, remained silent.

Shadepaw, sighing with frustration, spoke up again, "okay, fine, I'm not going to kill you, Forestpaw, I don't even _want_ to kill you!"

"But you do want to kill someone," said Forestpaw accusingly.

"So you heard that part," she muttered to herself, "yes, I do want to kill someone."

"Darkfall," the Soldier supplied.

"Yes, him."

"Why?" He frowned, "he's a True Glorious, you should respect him."

Instantly, in a flash followed by a lot of yowling, Shadepaw darted straightforward, claws aimed and unsheathed at Forestpaw's throat. Before she could do anything stupid, Stormpelt grabbed her by the scruff and pulled her backwards. The dark furred apprentice just got back to her paws, teeth bared at the Soldier.

"Don't you dare ever say that I should respect that loathsome fox-heart ever, _ever_ again, you hear me?"

Forestpaw, who had gone rigid at the attempt on his life, nodded stiffly.

Stormpelt cut in front of her but faced Forestpaw.

"Whether Shadepaw tells you the full story or not is her choice," he lectured the apprentice like he was a kit, "but if you tell anyone, she's not the cat you need to worry about, got it?"

Still terrified, the tom nodded.

"Good," Stormpelt growled, "now scram."

Without hesitating, Forestpaw darted back into the long grass and out of sight. The two other cats waited until they could hear nothing but the rustle of the breeze before daring to talk again.

"Do you think he'll keep his trap shut?" Stormpelt asked her, blue eyes narrowed.

Shadepaw frowned, "I'm not sure, maybe I should catch up with him…"

"Wait," the tom said, "before you leave, I need to know if I can fully trust you and if you can trust me."

Shadepaw froze, this was it, the moment to make the decision that could change everything. 'Trust no one' had always been her motto, but now… Could she trust him? Doubt started to flicker in her mind, maybe he was working undercover for the Glorious. Or, maybe he was actually part of the resistance. It could be either one…

"You can trust me," she said, though she wasn't sure if he could, "but how do I know you won't betray me?"

Stormpelt narrowed his eyes, "tomorrow night, I can show you I'm with the resistance, I can prove it to you."

"How?"

"Come tomorrow night at moon-high," he ordered, "you'll see."

* * *

Once he had gotten over the initial fear that he had felt at being threatened over and over again and the near-death experience he had just had to deal with, Forestpaw couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

To most of the clan, it was obvious that Shadepaw was skilled, but he had been training longer than her and he was older than her by at least two moons. So, the fact that she had managed to pin him down so easily with ease and had moved so quickly she had basically become a blur whilst the older cat was easily defeated was definitely embarrassing.

As well as that, he also had to deal with the new mystery on his paws and the tidbit of a conversation he had overheard.

" _I have business to settle," said Shadepaw in that clear, cold voice to the stranger who watched her warily._

 _The unfamiliar tom blinked, "with who?"_

" _With Darkfall."_

 _Forestpaw, from his hiding place, froze. Business to settle with Darkfall? Did she want to kill him?_

" _And how do you plan on taking him down?"_

" _I didn't know at first," Shadepaw tilted her head thoughtfully, "but now, with you here, it might be easier."_

" _How so?"_

" _Because," and the next words that came out of her mouth shocked Forestpaw, "you're with the resistance, and I want their help."_

Those words had definitely shaken the young Soldier apprentice to his core. Whilst Shadepaw had always been more separated and isolated than most cats, he figured that had to with the fact she claimed she was born a rogue. But, now, was that even true? Could he trust anything she said? Shadepaw usually came off as a cat trying to blend in, a cat who wouldn't dare get herself into trouble by breaking the rules. But now she was associating with _the resistance_ , she was a traitor to The Glorious!

Not to mention she had said she wanted to kill Darkfall! Darkfall, of all cats she could choose to murder, she picked him, why? He was one of the most high ranking cats in The Glorious, like a celebrity. He was what every good Glorious kit aspired to be, hearing tales of how was one of the leading forces that helped to destroy the clans, bringing a better life to all cats around the lake. So, why was she trying to kill him?

There were pieces of this puzzle missing, and Forestpaw wasn't clever enough to piece them all together. Maybe, Hollypaw could work it out, she had a pretty big brain. Then again, Shadepaw had basically threatened to kill him if he told anyone, so that was out of the question.

Even if he did tell anyone, would they believe him? He was a middle-rank apprentice, not a high-ranker or anything…

The dark tabby let out a heavy sigh and began to find the spot where he had buried the few pieces of prey he had caught earlier were. When he found it, he picked up a couple of skinny rabbits and small mouse in his jaw and began to walk back to camp.

"Hey," said a voice beside him, making him jump.

"Willowpaw?" He hadn't meant to sound so surprised, he had just been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had just been taken off-guard.

"Yeah," she said, her voice filled with amusement, "that's my name. You look worried about something, are you okay?"

He looked over at the silver she-cat who, to his surprise, was dragging a fat pheasant along the ground.

"I'm fine," he said, "how did you catch that _thing_?" He gestured with his paw to the pheasant.

"The dumb thing was wandering around the lake shore," Willowpaw laughed to herself, "stupid creature didn't even notice I was there."

A new presence had arrived. Shadepaw emerged from the long grass to walk alongside Willowpaw, with two large rabbits in her jaw. Forestpaw wondered when she got the chance to catch those even whilst she had been talking to the Resistance scum. He tensed when she looked at him, but she still gave no signs that they had even had an encounter; she was too good at hiding things. His distrust towards her only began to grow more and more.

The dark she-cat hardly said a word other than a quick compliment to Willowpaw on her catch. Forestpaw wondered what would happen if he outed her as a traitor to her adopted sister right now, would Willowpaw believe him? He reckoned she would, Willowpaw hardly ever showed any animosity to those of lower-ranks, even prisoners, surely she'd believe him.

Then again, after what had happened, Forestpaw couldn't help but feel a little afraid of Shadepaw.

They walked the rest of the way back in silence.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for how long this took me, I haven't been feeling great all week (three days of school in a row! That's how ill I am) so I haven't really been in the right state to really get my head down to write. Originally, a lot more was gonna happen in this chapter but I didn't want to keep anyone waiting any longer, so I shortened it. Also, I think Forestpaw is going to play a bigger role than what a few people were expecting…**

 **What are your opinions on Forestpaw? Do you think we can trust him?**


	7. The Gathering

**Chapter 5:**

 _She couldn't breathe._

 _Back, plunged into the unending darkness, with no light, no stars no moon._

 _Drowning._

 _Drowning in darkness._

 _It was still so cold. So cold._

 _And then she was back in that snowy forest, the black pit she had just been drowning in was gone. It had been replaced by the landscape covered in trees and covered in the thick, white blanket. Hazy black sky, a moon that peaked through the branches but still, no stars._

 _Shadepaw was back in her dream. Her nightmare, the same one as always._

 _Never different, always the same. There was no changing it, there were never any differences._

 _She couldn't take it. Every night she had to deal with this, every night she was reminded of him. Reminded of how useless and weak she had been. But she was going to change that, she was going to banish him from her mind and the lake._

 _No matter what it took._

 _So, she woke up._

* * *

 _Moor Camp_

 _The Night of the Gathering_

With a start, Shadepaw woke up again, her claws unsheathed and her ear pricked with alertness. Beside her, Willowpaw, who had already woken up, jolted to the side with alarm.

"What the-" Willowpaw said loudly, before cutting herself off, "are you okay, Shadepaw?"

The dark tabby looked up, as though she was surprised at even being noticed. It took her a couple of seconds to recover and put her look of cold, distant and detachment back on.

"I'm fine," she said, "just woke up quickly."

"Really?" Said Willowpaw doubtfully, "because that looked more like a nightmare to me."

"Did it?" Responded Shadepaw, "because I wasn't having a nightmare."

The silver apprentice continued to look suspicious but didn't say anything else.

"Why are you up so late?" Asked the dark tabby.

She rolled her blue eyes, "I was about to wake you up. We have the gathering, remember?"

"Oh," said Shadepaw, the tension she had felt in her dream came back suddenly, "now I remember."

Silence fell in between them for a few moments as they washed. Tonight, they were two of three apprentices travelling to the gathering tonight. Sootpaw was still asleep near the entrance of the den, yet to be waken up by either of the she-cats. Just as they were leaving, Shadepaw gave him a sharp kick to the side, causing him to bolt upright in surprise.

The rest of the gathering patrol was waiting for them by the entrance, Hawkclaw leading them. His amber eyes seemed to glow in the night sky as he watched the two she-cats, with Sootpaw dragging his paws behind them, carefully.

"We all here?" The Overseer asked, not waiting for an answer, he said, "good. Let's go."

The patrol set off, High-rankers towards the middle and the Soldiers on the outside. Soldiers were only required to attend gatherings to 'escort' those of high-ranks. Why this was, Shadepaw was unsure but, frankly, she didn't care.

The real question was, what happened at these gatherings? Neither Shadepaw nor Willowpaw had ever attended a gathering before and, those who had gone before never really talked about it, claiming that it was nothing interesting. But there was one thing she did know about the gathering and was quite sure about.

The True Glorious would be there.

Darkfall would be there.

But Shadepaw had already calculated her move. She would have to make sure he didn't see her, but he'd most likely forgotten about her. Hopefully, he had. Avoiding him was the best move. It wasn't like she could kill him tonight, it was too busy, too tricky. She'd have to wait until she had the resistance on her side.

For now, as much as she hated it, she had to remain in hiding.

But still. Only for now.

Shadepaw was patient. She could wait.

They continued to trek down the moor towards the lake at a marching pace. The water was visible atop the hill, the reflection a solid black other than the few glimmers of white, representing the stars and the ripples caused by the breeze as it drifted over the lake. Even as leaf-bare approached and despite the oncoming storm from earlier, the clouds still stayed away from the lake and remained to hover over the mountains as a dark reminder that rain was coming, but not yet.

The fallen tree that lead to the island seemed to put Willowpaw at unease so, Shadepaw walked across it as though she were walking across some land. When she reached the island, she glanced around, staring at the towering trees that stood on the island's grounds. The whole grandeur of the place made Shadepaw wary, even as she walked across the dew-soaked grass, she could feel the pawsteps of past cats beneath her.

Pricking up her ears, she came into a clearing behind the rest of the patrol. It was filled with cats from different camps, all talking obnoxiously loud and sharing stories with one another as though they knew each and every single cat ever. Shadepaw looked around with disinterest, not really bothered by any of them. Their pelt colours all seemed to blend and mesh together as they all stood side by side in small groups. Some greeted the patrol when they saw them, some from the patrol broke off to talk with friends.

It was at this point that Shadepaw came to the realisation that she was supposed to be socialising.

She glanced behind her, Willowpaw was looking around excitedly.

"Wow!" The silver apprentice exclaimed, "I never knew you could fit so many cats in one place."

Shadepaw glanced at her, her blue eyes were glittering in the light of the moon that hung with a heavy heart directly over the top of the island, letting its rays shine onto the island. Shadepaw squinted.

"Whirlpaw told me about gatherings before," said Sootpaw beside them, "he said that there were loads of cats all the time. All the important cats go up there."

He nodded to the large tree dotted with clusters of thick branches that twisted sideways. They were wider towards the base of the tree, twisting outwards and connecting with the roots on the floor. Higher up, it began to thin out until the twigs ended, leaving only the empty, night sky.

Hawkclaw made his way over to the tree but didn't jump up onto the branches.

"What important people?" Asked Willowpaw.

"Like the Overseers," Sootpaw explained, "and the True Glorious and that lot."

"Oh," Willowpaw nodded in understanding.

Shadepaw glanced around again, seeing if she could see the True Glorious group.

There they were, on the tree.

The first one she noticed was a white and silver she-cat with intelligent blue eyes. Whitefeather, the 'smart' one of The True Glorious. She was widely regarded as being the weakest one of them all when it came to a fight, but undefeatable in strategy. Not very strong, noted Shadepaw, not very sociable either. She sat slightly apart from the rest of them, but her eyes were watchful, observant.

Nearby, a more sociable tom was laughing a bit too loudly about something or other. Woodenfoot, a large, brown, tabby tom with child-like eyes that held an eagerness to impress. Rumour was that, since the take-over, he had already had seven mates and three sets of kits from three different mothers. Only a rumour, nothing for Shadepaw to worry about. But, he did look strong, difficult to defeat in battle. That was something she needed to take into account.

One of the topmost branches was shared by three.

Ivyfall was a beautiful she-cat with light-brown tabby fur and glittering amber eyes. Her fur was sleek, pretty. Well known for being a true manipulator, whilst not smart like Whitefeather, she was cunning like a snake, able to trick cats into doing what she wants. The way she moved was elegant, careful but laced with a hidden venom, a reminder that she, regardless of her beauty, was dangerous.

In the centre of the trio sitting atop the branch was the Leader, Smokefoot. He was a large, intimidating, solid grey tom with creepy, vivid yellow eyes that swept the crowd and looked down upon them all as though they were kits. He was a cat known to show off his power in any way possible. Cruel-hearted, mean-spirited and a terrible leader. Shadepaw growled at the sight of him.

But, not as much as she wanted to growl at the cat to his right.

He had hardly changed, his eyes still a cold, green and his body still lithe, well trained and confident.

Darkfall.

"Are you alright, Shadepaw?" Willowpaw asked beside her, making her jump.

"I'm fine," she said coldly, sheathing and unsheathing her claws.

There were four True Glorious members and Smokefoot, the Leader. They were so high-ranked, that they didn't even stay in one specific place. They 'camp-hopped,' changing camps from moon to moon. Right now, they were staying in River camp, though Shadepaw was unsure. They had yet to stay in Moor camp after the take-over but Shadepaw was sure they would soon. She still had a little time before they moved camps.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Asked Willowpaw again, "you've gone all stiff."

"I have?" Shadepaw said dryly, "I didn't even notice."

"I'm sure it's just the weather," said Willowpaw, peering at the sky, "those clouds we saw from earlier are really gathering now."

"Maybe the gathering will end early," observed Shadepaw.

Sootpaw, who Shadepaw had forgotten was here, again, said, "I hope so. I just want to go back to sleep."

"Don't let anyone catch you saying that," muttered the silver apprentice in a hiss, "your mentor will have your ears off for such disrespect. Not to mention, all you ever do is sleep anyway."

"Shush!" Said another cat from the crowd, "it's starting!"

They were right, Smokefoot had stood up, proudly standing over the cats as though they were all his prized possessions. Below him, the Overseers of each camp had gathered on the lower branches.

"Cats of The Glorious," said their leader and anyone else who had been talking fell silent, "we've gathered here on this evening, as we do on every full moon, to exchange patrols and information. However, tonight will be short, a storm is gathering and none of us what to get stuck in that."

There was an appreciative murmur. Shadepaw did not take her eyes off Darkfall.

"Anyway, as I'm sure, each Overseer wants to give their report. Forest camp, you may go first."

Greypelt, the Forest camp Overseer, stood up. "Over the past few moons, we have begun to scent rogues in our territory. We thought little of it at first but, as of today, we have captured two members of the resistance!"

There was a loud cheer. Shadepaw stopped herself from reacting to the news. Could one of those resistance members be Stormpelt? Was her plan ruined before it even begun? Doubt shook her mind.

"Both of them," continued the Overseer, "are now being interrogated by our best warriors and Soldiers, we'll have more information about the Resistance soon and we will give it directly to you, sir." He directed the last part to Smokefoot who nodded in apparent appreciation.

The Marsh camp Overseer went next. Then the River camp Overseer. However, neither of them gave news that was interesting enough for Shadepaw to pay attention to.

How dare he? How dare he have the audacity to sit up there like he owned the place, like he had _the right_ to look at anyone. He had killed her mother and suffered not punishment from it whilst Shadepaw had been forced into hiding, fearing for her life. It was so unfair. So, so unfair.

Hawkclaw went next, though, he said nothing of interest either. It was Smokefoot's announcement that definitely caught her attention.

"Due to some inside knowledge I have gained recently," he scanned the camp carefully, "I have decided that we will be moving camps one moon ahead of schedule."

' _Oh no,'_ thought Shadepaw with a jolt of horror.

"As of right now, I and the True Glorious would be returning back to River camp. However, instead, we will be transferring to Moor camp tonight, if that is okay with you, Hawkclaw."

Hawkclaw was not stupid, far from it actually. So, when Smokefoot asked him this, he was quick to realise that, in reality, he had no choice.

"Of course," the Overseer accepted the offer, "it would be an honour to have you."

Smokefoot nodded, happy with the response, "Now, with that sorted, we may end this gathering here. Until next moon."

With that, he hopped easily down from the branches, as though he were light as a feather, followed by the True Glorious. Shadepaw's eyes followed Darkfall until he was out of sight and then she considered her options.

Option one: she could run away, but how far would she get? Would cats come looking for her? Would he come looking for her? Not to mention, it would slow down her revenge plan.

Option two: she could stay and pray that Darkfall either wouldn't remember her or wouldn't see her.

Risky. Both were very risky. Was there an option three? Yes, there was. Die. Not an idea she favoured, not yet at least.

Option one or option two? Option one or option two… A tricky decision.

Option one was probably less risky, but it slowed her revenge plan down by a lot. And her revenge plan was the most important thing to her.

Option two carried a lot of risks, probably too many risks, but it brought her closer to Darkfall. Easier to kill him. Easier to avenge her mother. Easier to dig her claws into his throat and feel the life force ebb out of him.

She closed her eyes, feeling the daydream as though it were really happening.

"Shadepaw?" Said Willowpaw, "come on, we're leaving."

Think now, choose now.

Option two.

"Yeah, I'm coming," she said, trotting up to keep up with the silver she-cat.

She joined the patrol, making sure to surround herself with other cats. She risked a look up; Smokefoot was talking to Hawkclaw. The rest of the True Glorious seemed to be mingling with other clanmates, talking, laughing, sharing stories. She kept herself as discreet as possible.

 _He_ was there, talking with Bramblefoot. Talking smoothly, easily. As though he weren't a murderer.

That was when she made her first mistake.

She made eye-contact.

* * *

 **A/N: This came out later than expected mainly because we've had super heavy snow here in England and it's completely cut off my wi-fi.**


	8. The Spy

**Chapter 6:**

Forestpaw usually enjoyed these small apprentice gatherings the Soldiers held. It was a chance to meet different cats and that was a rare opportunity for those of his rank, who were only allowed to attend gatherings as 'escorts.' Forestpaw didn't like the ranking system very much. He was born into being a Soldier, he didn't get a choice. And now he had to deal with being worse than everyone else…

But despite the unfairness of the system, he lived with it. He dealt with it.

He certainly didn't want to go rogue and join up with the resistance like wanted Shadepaw to.

He sighed angrily and sheathed and unsheathed his claws.

"Are you okay, Forestpaw?" Said Hollypaw beside him, "you seem uneasy."

He glanced up and began to pad around restlessly, "I'm just wondering where all the other apprentices are."

It was only the Moor camp apprentices waiting outside their little gathering place, the horse place. There were four of them. Forestpaw and Hollypaw, of course, along with Lionpaw, an older, golden she-cat, and her brother, Streampaw, a silver tom.

"They won't be long," said Hollypaw, "I don't think the high-rank gathering patrol has even left camp yet, we have plenty of time."

"All this milling around is putting me on edge," he sighed, kicking the dirt, "I just _want_ them to hurry up."

"You're in such a bad mood today, Forestpaw," sighed Lionpaw, trotting up to them, "what is up with you?"

"I'm fine," he snapped, "just tired."

Streampaw, in the distance, pricked up his ears, "I can see some other cats."

Excited, the other three apprentices went over to the ridge he was standing on, looking down to see roughly seven or eight cats approaching them. Smelling the air, he got the strong whiff of oak and pine coming from the group. That meant it was probably the Forest camp and Marsh camp cats arriving.

When they got closer, Forestpaw scanned the crowd. He recognised some of the cats from past gatherings, there were other new arrivals who he'd never seen before. They looked a little nervous and kept glancing around over their shoulders. Whilst they weren't really breaking the rules to come out here this late, they weren't exactly following the rules either.

"Forestpaw!" Said Streampaw, "the River camp cats are coming too!"

All of this was originally Forestpaw's idea, it made him a sort of minor celebrity amongst the Soldier apprentices. It also meant he was the one usually in charge of these events.

"Great!" He nodded to himself, "I guess we can get started then."

Nothing usually happened here, it was just an opportunity to play-fight, show-off, boast about how could you were at training and just generally have fun. Far less formal than the high-rank gatherings and much more fun, Forestpaw felt proud of himself for coming up with this idea, it was easily better than having to be an escort at the official gathering.

So, as everyone gathered together, groups were formed. Newcomers stuck close to older apprentices but seemed to eventually relax and spread out. In the corner, a couple of toms were having a wrestling match whilst their friends cheered them on from the side. A group of she-cats were giggling loudly about something that Forestpaw didn't care about.

"Hey, Forestpaw," said a burly looking black tom.

"Nightpaw!" Forestpaw rushed over to him, "how are you?"

Nightpaw was one of Forestpaw's closest friends, but lived in from Forest camp. So, when they got the chance to meet, they had the best conversations.

"I'm great," he said, grinning, "but I have a great story to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Well," Nightpaw sat down, and a small group of other apprentices were gathering around it, "I was out hunting near the stream in our territory when I smell something disgusting, right? Well, I walk over to it to see what it is and I realise that it's a _cat_."

"A cat?" Says someone in the group, "like a kittypet or something?"

"No," Nightpaw shook his head, "worse than that. Anyway, so they don't see me I move downwind and I creep closer and I realise its _two_ cats!"

"Two!" Exclaimed Lionpaw, "did you fight them?"

"Of course I did!" He boasted, "I crept up on them and pounced on one of them, knocking him out. For the second one, I didn't give him a chance to react, I was way to quick. I knocked her out too and dragged them back to camp."

"Wow!" Said one tom, "that's amazing!"

"Yeah…" said a she-cat dreamily, "you're so strong, Nightpaw."

He puffed out his chest, proud of himself. Forestpaw laughed and nudged him good-naturedly on the shoulder.

There was a snort of contempt from the crowd and the apprentices parted to reveal a small, ginger she-cat with dazzling green eyes that held a swagger and energy that Forestpaw couldn't quite comprehend.

"Come on, Nightpaw," said the she-cat, "every cat from Forest camp knows that those two rogues pinned you down to the floor and almost beat you, if it weren't for that nearby patrol you would've been really badly hurt!"

There was a laugh from the crowd, but Nightpaw just looked embarrassed.

"I nearly had them," he sighed, "those resistance members are stronger than you think…"

The crowd fell silent; Forestpaw looked up at the statement, alarmed.

"Resistance members?" He repeated the words, "you fought resistance members?"

"He did," confirmed another Forest camp tom, "they were prowling around our territory when we found them. Captured them both, they're now our prisoners. Just watch us, we'll have every piece of information about the resistance out of those prisoners by the next full moon."

A congratulatory cheer rose from the crowd at the words and, slowly, they all began to disperse to discuss the news. By himself, Forestpaw thought about the news. Was it possible that the resistance member Shadepaw was with got captured? What was his name…? Stormpelt. Was that a good thing, or a bad thing? Forestpaw wasn't sure, he'd have to figure it out.

A voice behind him made him jump.

"Hey," said the ginger she-cat from earlier, "you're Forestpaw, right?"

"That's me," he nodded, smoothing down his fur, "can I help you?"

"Yes, you can," she looked at him cunningly, "my name's Emberpaw, by the way, I'm from Forest camp."

"Cool," he nodded dryly, not really caring, "what do you want?"

She got close to him, voice dropping to a whisper. "How well do you know Shadepaw?"

"Shadepaw?" He repeated the name, confused, "what do you want with her?"

"Nothing," she shook her head, "I just want to know whether you're going to betray her or not."

How did this cat know about him? How did this cat know how he knew about Shadepaw's betrayal? How did she know anything? Had Shadepaw told her? Probably not, Shadepaw wasn't likely to trust anyone. No, there was only one explanation for this…

"You!" He hissed, "you're with the resistance!"

"Keep your voice down!" She ordered, glancing around, "yes, I am. Good to know you figured that out."

"Wait-" He was still putting the pieces together in his head, "that means Stormpelt must've told you."

"He did."

"How did he tell you?" He felt shocked, "you must've been with your camp at the time, how did he get his message to you?"

"An arranged meeting spot," she said darkly, not betraying anything else, "he's my boss."

"Boss? You work for him?"

"I work for the resistance. I'm a spy. There's not many of us though. I'm the only spy in Forest camp, and there's one more in River camp and two more in Marsh camp, none in Moor camp, where you come from."

"So?"

"So I need your help."

"Look," he whispered, "I'll keep your secret, but I'm not helping the resistance. I'm not a traitor!"

"I understand," the she-cat sighed, scuffing her paws on the ground, "I only wanted a little help but I guess that's too much to ask."

Suddenly, Forestpaw felt sorry for her. Emberpaw's fur had flattened, the energy lost from her eyes and her tail had gone all droopy. What a shame… she was only doing her job…

"Fine," he snapped, "I'll help, what do you want?"

She brightened a little, "great! I just need some information on Shadepaw, as we don't have a spy in Moor camp, you're the best we can do. So, was Shadepaw born into being a high-ranker?"

"No," he shook his head, "it's complicated, really, I was only four moons old but I can remember it clearly."

Emberpaw leant forward, "go on then."

"Basically, when she was two moons old, a patrol found her beside the stream, half dead and freezing. We took her back to camp and nursed her back to health. When she woke up, she told us that her name was 'Shade' and she was born into a rogue. When we asked where her parents were, she told us that they had been killed by a badger."

The ginger cat nodded, intrigued by the information.

"At the time, a high-ranking queen had just lost most of her litter and was willing to adopt Shadepaw. That was basically how she became a high-ranker and a member of Moor camp."

"Interesting," Emberpaw grinned, "she's smarter than I thought she was."

Forestpaw blinked, "what's that supposed to mean?"

The green-eyed she-cat shook her head, "It's a lie, Forestpaw, she wasn't born a rogue. She was born in Thunderclan."

"Okay…" he flattened his ears, taking in the information, "so she lied?"

"She did, something you wouldn't expect a two-moon-old kit to do unless they've experienced something to make them afraid or wary of The Glorious."

"I'm not getting your vibe here."

Emberpaw's eyes sparkled with a surprising amount of intelligence. But, then again, he guessed you had to be smart to be a spy.

"I was given a mission to get information about Shadepaw from you," Emberpaw explained, "I wasn't told much information about her, other than that she was born in Thunderclan. I was also told not to tell you too much, but I reckon I can trust you, Forestpaw."

"I guess you can," he wasn't sure whether it was a compliment or not.

She went on despite his confusion, "so I'm going to share a theory with you, Forestpaw."

"Go ahead."

"Shadepaw lies to Moor camp about her past, how did she know to lie to them? What made her distrust The Glorious so much that she didn't tell them that she was born 'Shadekit' not 'Shade,' any ideas?"

Forestpaw thought before shaking his head.

"She lied because she knew to be afraid," Emberpaw talked like he wasn't really there, "maybe her parents were resistance members and were killed by The Glorious."

"Killed by Darkfall," said Forestpaw suddenly.

She glanced up, "Darkfall? Him?"

"Yes," he nodded, understanding it now, "she told Stormpelt that she wanted to kill Darkfall for whatever reason. I think the reason is, he killed her parents."

"He must've." She nodded to herself, "thank you, for your help."

"Come on, Forestpaw!" Shouted Hollypaw, "we're leaving!"

Emberpaw sent one last glance his way before padding away, "I'll be in touch."

"Wait!" He called after her.

She turned around, "what?"

He looked for the right words, "those two rogues Forest camp captured, are either of them…?"

She knew what he was asked, "no, neither of them was Stormpelt."

With that, Emberpaw left.

Forestpaw waited until he couldn't see her anymore before following his little group back to camp, but he was sucked into his thoughts, making a decision. Should he do it? Or shouldn't he do it?

No, he'd do it.

He was going to tell Willowpaw.

* * *

 **A/N: Double update, I know. I wrote this over the four days that we didn't have wi-fi when I was bored with watching movies. I think I've finally recovered from my cold, thankfully, but, after two days, I've run out of snow days and will have to go back to school to take three tests! Ugh! Anyway, just try and stay happy with this double upload whilst I claw my way through school.**

 **What do you think of Emberpaw? Now, do you think she's trustworthy?**


	9. The Storm

**Reviews**

 **Imprisoned Wings- Yeah, Forestpaw was supposed to be a bit of an idiot but I think I made him a lot stupider than I intended to, whoops.**

 **Chapter 7:**

The next morning, the storm arrived. Overnight, the clouds had rolled in from over the mountains, pulled by a strong, heavy wind, and had landed right over the top of the lake, covering the sky in a thick, grey blanket. Then, just before dawn, the rain had been released, pouring from the heavens non-stop.

Shadepaw, waking up early, as usual, had been the first to watch one large droplet fall with a heavy ' _splosh_.' Then, as the rain increased, the roaring of pounding water grew louder until basically, the entire camp had woken up.

Willowpaw watched through narrowed eyes as the rain fell so close together that vapour seemed to rise from the ground.

"This is just brilliant," the silver she-cat muttered, "we'll be stuck in camp all day."

"Not to mention, I'm starving!" Exclaimed Sootpaw, exasperated.

"I wouldn't worry," scoffed Sparrowpaw, "if the Overseer is sensible then he'll just send out the Soldiers to fetch our prey."

"They'd be lucky to find any prey at all in this weather," Willowpaw visibly shuddered.

Shadepaw wasn't listening, she was thinking, thinking deeply. Darkfall, in this camp, right now, what was she going to do?

"Shadepaw?" Said Willowpaw beside her, "what do you think?"

She glanced up, eyes as cold as ever, "think about what?"

The silver she-cat sighed, "about the True Glorious being here."

Shadepaw glanced around, the whole den was looking expectantly at her. She glanced back outside, but it was impossible to make out anything due to the rain, she guessed she was going to be stuck in the den all day.

"Not much," she answered.

"Well," said Whirlpaw in his obnoxiously loud voice, "I heard that they want to test all the high-ranking apprentices."

"Why is that?" Asked Shadepaw, tired.

"It's sort of obvious, don't you think?" He went on snobbishly.

"No, we don't, Whirlpaw," sighed Willowpaw, "just get on with it."

"Basically, when a member of the True Glorious dies or becomes leader after Smokefoot, they're gonna need someone to take their place, right?"

"I guess," shrugged Willowpaw.

"I thought they were immortal or something," interrupted Sootpaw.

Everyone looked at him.

"Idiot," hissed Sparrowpaw, "of course they're not immortal."

The black-furred tom shrugged.

"Well, as I was saying," Whirlpaw continued, "I heard from one of the high-rank apprentices in Marsh camp that the True Glorious are gonna give all of us tests to see if we're good enough to be their heir."

"Really?" Sparrowpaw sounded excited, "imagine that! Being a True Glorious."

"Everyone would have to do what you said," Whirlpaw puffed out his chest.

Willowpaw nodded to herself, "that would be pretty cool…"

Shadepaw flicked an ear dismissively, going back to thinking, forming a plan in her head. If she wanted to run away, this was probably the last chance she'd get. She'd be impossible to track in this weather and, with the low visibility, she'd easily be able to slip out of camp.

The question was whether she wanted to or not.

She had a clear opportunity to run, run away…

"You know," said Willowpaw quietly, "sometimes, I'd like to know what you think about?"

Shadepaw pricked up her ears and looked up, giving the silver she-cat a tired smile.

"I don't think you would," she said.

Willowpaw rolled her clear, blue eyes, "you don't need to be so dramatic about it."

"I don't think about much," she assured her, "nothing interesting anyway. What do you think about?"

"A lot of things, actually," Willowpaw nodded her head, "but mainly, I like to think about nice places."

"Nice places?"

"Like the lake," Willowpaw shrugged, "it sounds like I'm a kit, but places that are just nice to look at."

"It's a good thing to think about," Shadepaw nodded, "I wonder what Sootpaw thinks about."

The two she-cats glanced over at the tom who was mindlessly clawing at the ground.

"Not much I think," answered Willowpaw and the two laughed for a bit.

Once they finished laughing, Shadepaw's mind drifted back to Darkfall. The thought that he was in the same camp as her right now, not too far away, disgusted her. The thought of him having the audacity to exist, to be anywhere near her was a thought that, somehow, made her feel violated. How dare he?

"You're doing the thing again?" Said Willowpaw.

"What thing?" It came out harsher than Shadepaw intended it to.

Willowpaw sighed, "that thing you do when you're worried about something."

"What do I do?"

"You sheath and unsheath your claws over and over."

"I do?" Shadepaw glanced down idly at her claws, "I never realised."

"Well, you do," Willowpaw walked towards the entrance of the den and poked her nose out, "It's never gonna stop raining!"

Shadepaw padded to her side, "I can see someone."

A dark tabby was approached.

Forestpaw.

Shadepaw narrowed her eyes warily as she watched the tom walk across the camp to join a patrol. He hadn't betrayed her yet, but there was still a chance. Thinking about Forestpaw reminded her of the meeting she had with Stormpelt tonight.

"I guess Sparrowpaw was right about them still going out in this weather," Willowpaw shuddered, "I wouldn't want to be in their paws."

"Me either," agreed Shadepaw.

Forestpaw was taking to the black she-cat apprentice, Hollypaw. But, halfway through his conversation, she didn't miss the way his eyes flickered to their den, looking at Shadepaw and Willowpaw consecutively. Definitely suspicious.

"I wonder if we are doing anything today," the silver apprentice continued when Shadepaw didn't say anything else, "I'd hate to be trapped inside here all day with a bunch of lousy toms."

Shadepaw glanced back. Sootpaw had managed to fall back asleep and Whirlpaw and Sparrowpaw were laughing as they made a hole in the ceiling, right over the sleeping tom's head.

"What can we do, though?" Shadepaw wondered aloud, "there's no way I'm going out on the moor in this weather, the grass will be wet…"

"Maybe Lightfoot wants our help in the medicine den," suggested Willowpaw.

"If you want to sort herbs all day, that's fine," Shadepaw shook her head, "but you're not getting my help."

"Fine then," sighed Willowpaw, "I'll see you later."

"See you."

Shadepaw watched as the silver she-cat dodged out into the grey weather, her pelt blending in with the rain. Quickly, she darted across camp and out of sight. Frowning, Shadepaw stuck her paw out, letting the rain fall on it, and pulled back in, now she just had a wet paw. Glancing back, the two toms seemed to have successfully pulled their prank as water dripped through the hole in the ceiling and right onto Sootpaw's head. However, much to their disappointment and Shadepaw's amusement, it failed to wake the tom up.

"Shadepaw?" A voice behind her said.

She glanced up, impassively, "yes, Shadowfur?"

The dark, grey she-cat was completely soaked, "I've already told Willowpaw, but you and the rest of the apprentices," she sent a meaningful look to the three toms, still messing around, "meet us in the leader's den."

"The leader's den?" Exclaimed Sparrowpaw loudly, causing Sootpaw to stir slightly, "why are we going there."

The older she-cat looked at him with some form of disgust, "you'll see."

Then, she calmly walked away.

Whirlpaw stood up, "see, I bet this was about the trial thing I was talking about," he stuck his nose in the air, "I'm going to become a True Glorious, just watch me!"

"I'm watching," muttered Shadepaw, twitching her tail.

Sparrowpaw, who hadn't heard her snide, nodded enthusiastically along with his friend, "yeah, we're the strongest apprentices in the clan!"

Shadepaw padded over to the sleeping Sootpaw, looking down at him impassively before shaking him.

"Gah!" Sootpaw shot up.

Shadepaw flicked an ear, "come on, we have to go to the leader's den."

"Did I fall back asleep?" Said Sootpaw absentmindedly, "I didn't mean to do that…"

"Come on then," Whirlpaw said impatiently, "you two are taking forever."

"We never said you had to wait," Shadepaw barged past Sparrowpaw and Whirlpaw, not looking back.

She heard Sparrowpaw growl in the background, "why does she always have to be so rude?"

The rain outside was pretty violent, thundering down in icy cold pellets that combined with the howling wind, that was so strong it blew the rain so it fell almost horizontally. The distant flash of white followed by a deafened crack reminded those in the camp that the worse of the storm was yet to come. Shadepaw hardly reacted as another clap of thunder shook the sky, whilst Sootpaw jumped beside her.

Whirlpaw and Sparrowpaw weren't too far behind as they drew near the leader's den, Willowpaw outside.

"So much for helping out in the medicine den," said Willowpaw as she walked towards her.

Shadepaw flattened her ears, "I'm not sure why you wanted to anyway," she flicked an ear dismissively, "it's too wet to do anything."

She walked straight into the den, leaving Willowpaw to keep up with her.

Inside, it was dark but dry. Without any sunlight to shine through the entrance, the den was left with the eerie grey atmosphere, which reflected the equally dull, grey sky outside the den. Shadows enveloped most of the den, covering it in a strange sort of musky darkness, that still wasn't quite dark enough.

Shadepaw noticed him almost straight away, a pair of glowing yellow eyes in the dark, the outline of thick, dark, grey fur just about visible in the dim light. She wasn't entirely sure how to react at first, she had only seen the tom from a distance at the one gathering she had attended, never quite as imminent as in this moment.

She bowed her head, a sign of respect.

"Well," said Smokefoot, appearing from the darkness in a strangely, over-dramatic manner, "at least one apprentice knows how to show respect to their leader."

Shadepaw felt Willowpaw beside her physically jump back from surprise, but she took no notice as she continued to watch the Glorious Leader through narrowed, calculating eyes.

Sparrowpaw, Whirlpaw and Sootpaw also all seemed to jump, before they also bowed their heads in respect. From the sidelines, Hawkclaw watched with mild interest.

A voice came from outside the den, entering inside.

"Now, now, Smokefoot," came a female tone, "no need to tease them, they're only apprentices."

It was Ivyfall, the beautiful, light brown she-cat with silky, soft fur and mesmerising amber eyes that seemed to pierce every cat she looked at in the den. Despite her seemingly light-hearted, humoured attitude, Shadepaw still felt on edge. In fact, all of this put her on edge, as though she were expecting him to walk in any second.

"Well, Ivyfall, it's important that apprentices learn to respect," Smokefoot paced round the group towards the she-cat, "especially with what they're about to go through," he glanced back at Hawkclaw, "is this all of them?"

The large tabby nodded, "this is them."

Shadepaw caught Smokefoot's eye, but her expression didn't shift from that of suspicion and distrust. Ivyfall strode towards him, her fur sleeker than ever because of the rain.

"Care to explain?" Smokefoot said to her, who nodded.

"Of course," she turned to the younger cats, "I'm sure you know who I am, and I'm sure you know who he is, so we'll skip past the introductions. There's no need to introduce yourself, if you're good enough, I'll be sure to remember your name."

Shadepaw was guessing that whatever Whirlpaw had been going on about before, this was it.

"Well, as you know," she went on, "not all the True Glorious will live forever, therefore meaning we will need…" she looked for a word to use, "a replacement."

Shadepaw continued to glare, but not with any aggressiveness or the suspicion that had been there before, but with simple impassivity.

"You'll be going through a series of trials," Ivyfall explained, "overseen by us, of course. We won't be starting these today but tomorrow, the trials will begin."

' _Trials?'_ Thought Shadepaw, ' _strange way to phrase it…'_

She kept a wary eye on the dark grey, yellow-eyed tom in the background, watching the scene unfold with an intense curiosity. This surprised Shadepaw. She had figured that the tom would be just as reserved with his emotions than she was herself. However, he seemed to have no trouble hiding his personality as he looked over each apprentice one by one, judging them. She supposed that, when you could rule the entire lake, it didn't really matter whether you could hide your emotions or not.

"Tomorrow?" Said Whirlpaw loudly, "even if it's still raining?"

There was a sudden sinister feeling in the den but, the humoured expression in Ivyfall's eyes did not change. But, Whirlpaw wasn't stupid enough to not notice the way the she-cat's body had suddenly tensed up, her eyes fixed on him in a way that somehow was threateningly sweet.

"Especially if it's raining," she said, her pitch lowered, "it's important for cats to be able to perform under any conditions."

Shadepaw's eyes flitted over to the entrance of the den, watching the rain pour for a few seconds before looking back at the scene ahead of her.

"Uh, right," Whirlpaw shook his head, suddenly a lot quieter than before, "yeah, okay."

"Well," cut in Smokefoot, prowling back into the centre, "I think that's all for today," his voice was snide, snarky, he looked down at the apprentices, "you can return to whatever you were doing."

As they were dismissed, Shadepaw relaxed a little. No sign of Darkfall yet, but there was no doubt she'd seen him. But, she still had more time to prepare.

For now, she had to think about her meeting with Stormpelt tonight.

* * *

 **A/N: So, this chapter is basically just 'pathetic fallacy' and foreshadowing aha! Also, I introduced the whole 'Trials' plot point, but I'm still not sure where that point is going. Anyway, I've reached a point where I think I've overhyped Darkfall a tad too much, which makes him more difficult to write haha.**


	10. The Leader

**Reviews**

 **Featherfrost of Stormclan- Yes, yes he is**

 **Pikapower9- Haha, thank you! Also, yes, Shadepaw is an ass to literally everyone she knows but, whilst she does have a decent motivation, I think it's really unhelpful just to lock every single emotion inside of yourself and make everyone hate you. Also, Willowpaw is a good friend to Shadepaw, even if Shadepaw doesn't realise it yet.**

 **Chapter 8:**

Forestpaw was woken up by Hollypaw shaking him, her fur was dishevelled, eyes sleepy. He heard a dull roar in his ear which, at first, he thought was him going deaf, before he felt a heavy drop of rainfall onto his nose and, looking outside the den, saw the weather raging.

"We need to fix the roof," muttered Forestpaw.

"You know they won't let us," Hollypaw glanced up at the hole in the ceiling, "last time it rained, Hawkclaw told us to suck it up and deal with it."

"Well he would say that, wouldn't he?" Forestpaw felt an odd, rebellious feeling overcome him, "he's _too_ high a rank for us."

"Hush," Hollypaw batted him around the ears, "that's blasphemy!"

He shook his head, "right, sorry. Why did you wake me up?"

"You're on dawn patrol."

"It's dawn?" He peered outside again.

"I know it doesn't look like it, but…" she sighed, "it is. Plus, guess what?"

"What?"

"Well, Yellowpaw was an escort at the gathering and guess what he told me."

"Can you just not tell me without me having to guess?"

"Basically, he said that the True Glorious and the Leader are in camp, right now! And they're gonna be here for like two moons or something."

This finally seemed to shake him out of his bad mood. The True Glorious and the Leader were in the camp, right at this moment? It took him a second or two to realise what that meant. Who was one of the most prominent members of the True Glorious? Darkfall. And, wasn't Shadepaw plotting to kill him with the resistance? Oh dear…

"Really?" He said with an enthusiasm he didn't feel, "all of them?"

"Yep, that's what Yellowpaw said anyway," she shrugged, "apparently they're doing a check-up on everyone in camp, including the Soldiers, starting with the dawn patrol."

He stood up, stretching out and letting out a loud yawn, "okay, then. Are you on it?"

"Yep, lucky me."

"More like lucky us," he sighed loudly, looking out at the rain, "this isn't gonna be fun."

"Let's go," she said, "before our mentors yell at us."

They left the den, both of them instantly feeling the icy shock of rain as the weather hit them the moment they stepped out into the exposed clearing. The wind was blowing so hard and so violently, the rain fell almost in a horizontal line, smacking them around the side of their faces and their fur billowed in the brutal breeze.

"I swear to the Glorious," mumbled Hollypaw, "how are we supposed to patrol in this."

As they made their way over to the patrol waiting outside the camp, Forestpaw's eyes were drawn to the entrance of the high-rank, apprentices den. He supposed that, as they were high-ranks, none of them would be doing much work today, leaving only the soldiers to deal with this weather. How unfair. No, he needed to stop thinking like that. Ever since he eavesdropped on Shadepaw's conversation with the rogue, he couldn't help but feel slightly more rebellious. Maybe, by osmosis, he was becoming like Shadepaw, who had little regard for the system. He couldn't become like that, he was a loyal Soldier, no matter what. Right?

At the entrance of den sat Shadepaw and Willowpaw, the latter of whom gave Forestpaw a sympathetic look at being out in the weather. It made the tom wonder about when he was going to talk to the silver she-cat about all of what he had heard about Shadepaw like he told himself he would.

No, he would tell her. Tonight.

Shadepaw was glaring at him, her piercing green eyes intense as she looked down at him with distrust. He looked away.

"Shadepaw doesn't like you much, does she?" Said Hollypaw, amused.

Forestpaw shrugged, "she doesn't like anyone."

The black she-cat yawned, "good point."

Gooseglare, the grey soldier who was also Forestpaw's mentor, was waiting at the front of the patrol with Hollypaw's mentor, Pouncepelt. Beside them, the young, ginger she-cat Kestrelpelt was chatting with the senior Soldier, Daisyeyes.

"Good," said Gooseglare as the two apprentices drew closer, "we can head off. The sooner we can get this over with, the better."

Forestpaw glanced back over at the apprentice's den, Shadepaw was gone.

Daisyeyes, being the oldest, was leading the patrol. "We'll head out to the edge of our territory. We probably won't pick up many scents, but Hawkclaw has asked us to look out for any prey or any signs of rogues, so keep your ears pricked, okay?"

"Oh, good," said a voice, "I thought we'd just missed you."

The patrol turned around to see who it was. Two toms were making their way towards them, looking important, yet relaxed. One was a large, tabby tom with amber eyes and, beside him, was a lithe, dark grey, tabby tom with cold, green eyes that, somehow, seemed to pin Forestpaw to the ground with just a passing glance.

Instantly, all the Soldiers on the patrol bowed in greeting, so did the apprentices to follow suit.

"Woodenfoot, Darkfall," said Daisyeyes when they stood back up again, "I was not expecting you to join our patrol in this weather."

' _Darkfall?'_ Thought Forestpaw, glancing back at the apprentice's den, he couldn't see Shadepaw.

"Well," said Woodenfoot, "We could do with the fresh air."

"Not to mention, it's important that we make sure that everything is running correctly," said Darkfall, moving to the front of the patrol

Now that he knew that this tom was definitely Darkfall, Forestpaw examined him closely. His posture was surprisingly relaxed, and he didn't seem to hold any animosity towards the lower-ranked cats, despite the fact he was easily the second most important cat in all The Glorious. He was strikingly handsome, with an athletic, well-built body and glimmering green eyes that seemed to reflect light, despite there being no sun. He was not large with muscles nor did he have thick fur like Woodenfoot, instead he seemed more stealthy, less clumsy in his built. Every part of him felt calculating but, at the same time, friendly.

How could Shadepaw want to kill a cat like him?

Then again, after he had met with Emberpaw the night before, they had both concluded on the theory that Darkfall had killed her parents. Then again, how could a tom that seemed so nice kill anyone?

"It would be an honour for you to join us," said Daisyeyes.

"Well then," Darkfall glanced back at Woodenfoot and then at Daisyeyes, "you may lead the way, you know your way around this territory better than we do."

There was no way this cat was a murderer, he seemed pretty nice.

As the patrol head off, Woodenfoot dropped back to walk beside Pouncepelt, asking him questions. Darkfall, too, kept in pace with Daisyeyes at the front, lightly asking questions, making jokes, completely relaxed.

Maybe he should tell him, maybe Forestpaw should tell him that there was a cat in this clan plotting his murder. Did Darkfall even know who Shadepaw was? Probably not, he was too important.

Then again, he was only a Soldier, there was no way he would believe him.

Maybe, he needed to convince Willowpaw about all this. Maybe Darkfall would listen to a high-rank apprentice rather than a Soldier apprentice.

But would Willowpaw betray a cat she considered her sister?

She'd have to, Forestpaw wouldn't let Darkfall get murdered, he was far too nice to deserve such hate.

Forget Emberpaw, forget the resistance, he was going to save The Glorious! No matter what it took!

* * *

By the time it was night, the storm had loosened up a little. Whilst the rain continued to fall, the flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder had come to a stop, meaning it wouldn't be too hard to get to the meeting place with Stormpelt. She figured she was meeting him in the same place as last time, even if there was a strong lack of shelter there. So, when Shadepaw estimated the point that it was moon-high, and everyone else in the den had fallen asleep, she got up and crept out.

Luckily, because Moor camp was so exposed, it gave lots of different paths as an exit, meaning there was no need to slip past the guards in the entrance. Deciding not to slip through the dirt place, Shadepaw took the exit behind the nursery and slunk away, nothing more than an invisible shadow, grey fur blending in with the grey sky.

Once she was a comfortable distance away from camp and slinking through tall grass, she was able to stand up straight and not feel worried about anyone spotting her.

She drew closer to the clearing she had once been in, before stopping.

The ground was muddy, wet, leaving paw prints behind, much to her annoyance. However, she doubted it really mattered. If the rain kept going like this, it would probably just fill her paw-prints up with even more mud by morning. The moment she reached the clearing, she heard two cats rather than one.

The first was Stormpelt, his fur looking completely soaked through, but his blue eyes still glinted with a spark of optimism. Beside him sat another cat she vaguely knew and, much to her surprise, was Emberpaw, the cat she had met on the messenger patrol.

"I figured there was something off about you," she said flatly to the ginger she-cat whose eyes sparked with cheekiness.

"I work as a spy for the resistance, and I've been talking to your Soldier friend."

"Forestpaw," Shadepaw flicked an ear, "what does he talk about?"

Emberpaw regarded her for a couple of seconds before answering. "He's a tom who can't keep his mouth shut."

"As far as I'm concerned, he hasn't betrayed me yet," her gaze flicked back to Stormpelt, who was watching the exchange with a surprising amount of amusement, "but I can't be sure if he will or not."

Emberpaw seemed to agree with this observation.

"Now," began Stormpelt, "you wanted proof I with the resistance?"

"I did," confirmed Shadepaw.

He grinned, "well take this."

Another tom emerged from the tall grass, and Shadepaw recognised him instantly. It was him, the resistance leader. Each cat in Moor camp had been given a vivid description of him. He was a lanky, tall, dusty, brown tom with weirdly large yellow eyes that seemed to scan her with a cold detachment. There was evidence of age, stress and wisdom in his posture, and a kind of grandeur that differed from any other cat Shadepaw knew. And, of course, there was that one specific detail about him that every cat knew to look out for...

He only had half a tail, some said it had been bitten off by a badger, but the truth remained unknown.

"Gorgestar," said Shadepaw formly, "the leader of the resistance and the only living leader of the old clans."

"Shadepaw," he returned, his tone sly, "the apprentice plotting murder."

"Murder for a good reason," she growled, "Darkfall killed my mother."

Gorgestar was the only leader who managed to survive the takeover and, previously, had been the leader of Windclan. It was unsure how many lives he had left, but he was slowly becoming one of the oldest cats in all the clans.

"The resistance has no business dealing with petty, personal vendettas," the leader shook his head, "we have no place dealing with issues on such a small scale."

Shadepaw, remaining as calm as possible, cooly replied, "this isn't petty."

"But it is personal," he returned, "I shouldn't be wasting my time with kits."

"I'll kill him with or without your help," she told him, "but wouldn't it be better if you at least helped me?"

"Why is that?"

"It would be mutually beneficial," Shadepaw looked at Emberpaw, "you have a spy in Forest camp, maybe you have some in the other camps, I don't know. However, as far as I know, you don't have one in Moor camp."

He looked at her, "you're offering to become a spy."

"If you help me," she said, "I'll help you."

Gorgestar took a couple more seconds, looking deep in thought, before shaking his head. "No, I have no reason to trust you or your motivations."

"My motivations?" Shadepaw snarled, anger building up inside of her, "I'll make my motivations very clear, then, Gorgestar." She took a deep breath, "I want to kill Darkfall because I watched him forcefully drown my mother in the Moonpool when she had done nothing wrong. He then came over to me and threatened me, told me that if I didn't do what he said, he would kill me. I was two moons old! Is that reason enough to trust my motivations?"

Emberpaw looked surprised, Stormpelt looked angry, yet Gorgestar's expression had not changed, despite the news. Shadepaw supposed that, in a way, she was this frustrating to negotiate with. Similar to him, they were both distrusting, uncaring and mainly detached from everything. To be angry at him, though Shadepaw, would be hypocritical.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

There was a heavy sigh from Stormpelt, who stepped between the two, "Gorgestar, listen, she has a point. We don't have a spy in Moor camp and she's the daughter of Brightfeather, we have to give her a chance."

To her surprise, Gorgestar snorted dismissively at Brightfeather's name.

"Yes and Brightfeather was the most trustworthy cat in the world, wasn't she?" The resistance leader said sarcastically.

Stormpelt's fur fluffed up aggressively, "how dare you!"

But he was cut off, "you're too emotionally invested in this, Stormpelt," Gorgestar looked back at Shadepaw, "this kit may be your kin, but that doesn't make her trustworthy. Emberpaw, what do you think?"

This too, shocked Shadepaw. She had grown up around leaders who took no advice except their own, who would punish cats that spoke back to them, or even looked at them funny. Yet, there was a strong, solitary yet professional leader who, whilst he was a bit of a dick, still looked to his companions for advice. Somehow, despite how much she didn't like the leader, it was a respectable thing to do.

The ginger apprentice stepped forward, "I think we should listen, Gorgestar," she said, "it may be a personal vendetta, but Darkfall is still an intelligent strategist, it would be beneficial to all of us if he were dead."

"And you have no personal motivation to kill Darkfall?"

"None at all, sir," Emberpaw told him, "I hardly know the tom."

Gorgestar frowned thoughtfully, thinking over the she-cats words very carefully.

"You would act as our spy?" He asked Shadepaw.

"If that's what you want me to do," she nodded complacently, though she hated the idea of having to follow orders.

"It's settled then," Gorgestar looked at Stormpelt, "we have been talking about this plan for a while now, it's time we put it to the test, wouldn't you say?"

Stormpelt blinked, "right now, sir?"

"No," Gorgestar looked up, "we'll give it a little longer, just to perfect the plan. In the meantime, you can go back to camp."

He looked at Shadepaw who flicked her tail, "what plan? How am I supposed to know when we'll meet again?"

Gorgestar looked at Emberpaw, "well, report anything interesting to her when you get the chance," he glanced at Stormpelt, "us three will hold a meeting at the moonpool, at the half-moon."

Shadepaw, cautious but slightly more relaxed, nodded. "Okay then, I'll head back to camp."

She heard something but didn't react.

"You do that," Gorgestar dismissed her and walked away, Emberpaw on his heels.

Stormpelt glanced back, "see ya."

She simply dipped her head in farewell and watched them walk away. She tried not to feel slightly irked by Gorgestar's attitude and wondered whether people found her that annoying.

When she was sure they were out of earshot, she turned around.

"Willowpaw. Forestpaw. I know you're there."

* * *

 **A/N: I'm honestly so annoyed, I'm not seeing The Last Jedi until Wednesday and literally everyone I know has already seen it. So, I'm gonna have to get through three school days without having anyone spoil it to me.**

 **Anyway, what do you think of Darkfall? Do you think he's as nice as everyone seems to think he is? What about Gorgestar, what do you think of him?**


	11. The Reveal

**Reviews**

 **Featherfrost of Stormclan- Haha, yeah Forestpaw is an idiot. Also, yes, Gorgestar is a very weird cat**

 **Imprisoned Wings- Yeah, same**

 **Pikapower9- Yeah, he is pretty stupid, if only because he was raised in an environment where he was taught that the system is actually great, and not oppressing him. But, I think we're about to see a big change in him soon. As for Darkfall, he is a charming character, manipulative would be the word I use. So, I'm also looking forward to writing the moment Shadepaw and Darkfall come face to face.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9:**

Forestpaw waited until it was moon-high and he was sure that Shadepaw would be asleep, to get up and sneak into the high-rank den. So, he stood up, lightly stepped over the sleeping form of Hollypaw, and left the den.

Outside, the thundering rain had loosened up to a light shower, but still fell to the ground in icy, cold drops. The clearing was mainly deserted, aside from a couple of guards at the main entrance, who were muttering at a medium volume to one another, oblivious to the tabby tom sneaking around in the background.

As silently as possible, he slid towards the high-rank half of the camp, dodging into the high-rank den, keeping close to the wall. He almost trod on Sootpaw, who was sleeping near the entrance. He wasn't too worried about it, though, Willowpaw had told everyone that the tom was a heavy sleeper.

He looked up at scanned the den, looking for Willowpaw and he noticed something.

Shadepaw wasn't in the den.

Neither was Willowpaw.

' _Huh?'_ He looked around again, just to make sure.

He drew himself out of the den and glanced around the camp, sighing loudly. That was annoying, his plan had failed. He wondered where Shadepaw was, was she with the resistance right now? Plotting to destroy them all? He shook his head, focus!

"Forestpaw?" Whispered a voice behind him making him jump.

He swivelled around, "Willowpaw?"

The silver she-cat blinked, "what were you doing in there?" She gestured to the den.

"Looking for you," he glanced around the camp, "can you follow me?"

"No," she hissed back, "I'm looking for Shadepaw. I woke up and she wasn't here, I'm worried she's just wandering the moors, completely lost, especially in this weather."

"Good to know someone cares about her," the tom muttered to himself before addressing Willowpaw, "I think I might know where she is. But you've gotta follow me, no questions asked."

"How do you know where she is?"

"I'll explain everything on the way, but, for now, we need to get outta camp." Forestpaw glanced around in concern, "It's important."

Willowpaw, curious, followed the tom out of camp, exiting the clearing via the small path behind the high-rank queen den. When they reached the moor, they kept low to the ground as to not be spotted by any cats hanging around outside of camp. Once they had reached the long grass, they stood up proper and began to walk at full-height.

As they walked, they talked.

"So," began Willowpaw, "where's Shadepaw?"

"I'm not sure if this is right," he sighed, "but I think she's not too far from here, near the stream. You know, around where we went hunting after the messenger patrol."

"Why would she be there?" She sounded doubtful.

Forestpaw sighed, "I'm not sure how to say this but… Shadepaw isn't all that you think she is."

The silver she-cat snorted with contempt, "what's that supposed to mean? I've known Shadepaw since I was two moons old, she's practically a sister to me, I know everything about her."

"Yes, but she lied to you," he told her with exasperation, "she lied to everyone…"

"No, she hasn't."

"She has, Willowpaw, you gotta believe me."

The she-cat sighed and cut in front of him, stopping him in his tracks as the two eyed each other steadily. After a moment of tension, Willowpaw spoke.

"Go on then, what were you getting at?"

"Shadepaw wasn't a rogue before she joined the clan," he said slowly, "she was born in Thunderclan, before the takeover."

Willowpaw narrowed her eyes in thought, but she didn't have a reaction other than that, "that doesn't make any sense. She told she was a rogue and that her parents had been killed by a badger. If she was born in Thunderclan, what happened to her parents? How did she end up Moor camp territory? It makes no sense."

"The details are a bit fuzzy," Forestpaw squinted at the moons as it appeared from behind a cloud, "but I think it has something to do with Darkfall."

"Darkfall?"

"I was theorising," he chose not to mention Emberpaw, "and I came to the conclusion that Darkfall killed her parents or something. Now, I'm not sure. Darkfall just doesn't seem like the murderous type, he's too nice to do something like that…."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Willowpaw shook her head, "let's reverse here, Darkfall killed Shadepaw's parents? Where in all the lake did you get that idea?"

"Shadepaw wants to kill Darkfall," Forestpaw said, "after the messenger patrol, when we went hunting, I overheard her talking with this rogue. I only caught a snippet of their conversation, but the rogue was with the resistance and she wanted their help to kill Darkfall!"

Willowpaw gasped, "what? No, that's impossible. I know you probably don't like Shadepaw, not many cats do, but she would never be disloyal to The Glorious!"

"She threatened to kill me!"

"I'm sure she had a good reason," Willowpaw huffed, "I need physical proof, Forestpaw, I can't just suddenly start thinking that my friend is a traitor because of what you tell me!"

He sighed, "well, I think the reason she left her nest is to have a meeting with the resistance about her plans, I'll show you where it was."

Still looking doubtful, Willowpaw followed the soldier anyway to the place where he had his confrontation with Shadepaw and the other grey tom, what had his name been? Stormpelt? If there was this supposed meeting going on, would Emberpaw be there? Suddenly, he was overwhelmed with the sudden feeling that he was a bit too involved with the resistance.

Willowpaw froze and stopped, gesturing for Forestpaw to do the same.

She flattened her ears and began to creep forward as quietly as possible and, finally, his ears managed to pick up the same sounds that she had been hearing. As silently as a spider creeping up a rock, they scuttled through the long grass, trying their hardest to not make a sound when they managed to make out four shapes in the undergrowth.

One was Stormpelt, looking as stoic as possible as he watched the exchange unfold. Beside him, sat the distinctive ginger pelt of Emberpaw whose tail was flicking impatiently. Shadepaw was there too, of course, looking uncharacteristically agitated.

There was another unfamiliar figure. A plain, pale brown tom with tired yellow eyes and a long, skinny body. There was something strange about him though… his tail… He only had half a tail! There was only one cat with half a tail, and his name was very well known throughout the whole of The Glorious.

"Oh my-" he tried to find the words, "it's Gorge-"

But he was cut off by Willowpaw's tail slapping him in the face. He looked at the she-cat, whose blue eyes were glittering with an intense interest and curiosity that was very different from her usually friendly, kind eyes.

There seemed to be an argument unfolding.

"If you help me," said Shadepaw, "I'll help you."

"What?" Forestpaw heard Willowpaw mutter to herself, "but they're resistance members…" And he felt a flicker of sympathy for the silver she-cat, he had no idea how it would feel to be lied to by someone you considered family…

"No," responded Gorgestar in a cold manner, "I have no reason to trust you or your motivations."

"My motivations?" Snarled Shadepaw with a fury that reminded Forestpaw of when she had made an attempt on his life. "I'll make my motivations very clear then, Gorgestar, I want to kill Darkfall-"

That was it, Forestpaw's story had been confirmed, Willowpaw looked back at him, nodding.

"-because" Shadepaw wasn't done, "I watched him forcefully drown my mother in the Moonpool when she had done _nothing_ wrong. He then came over to me and threatened me, told me that if I didn't do what he said, he would kill me. I was two moons old! Is that motivation good enough for you?"

Forestpaw stopped himself from physically reacting. There was no way that was a lie, that was far too vivid, too emotionally to be a facade. Willowpaw seemed to agree as her face mirrored his own, one filled with shock and horror. Maybe, just maybe, Darkfall wasn't as nice as he appeared to be and Shadepaw was telling the truth. Maybe he had just automatically presumed that Darkfall couldn't be a murderer because he was too nice and decided not to trust Shadepaw because she was rude and cold. Then again, watching your mother get murdered in front of you when you were two moons old would certainly change the kind of cat you were.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Gorgestar's tone was surprisingly pitiless tone.

Shadepaw looked ready to respond with harsh words, but Stormpelt stepped in.

"Gorgestar, listen, she has a point. We don't have a spy in Moor camp and she's the daughter of Brightfeather, we have to give her a chance."

As the conversation went on, Willowpaw and Forestpaw struggled to follow the situation, heads spinning with new information. Towards the end, he was getting so tired that he accidentally shifted his foot to the side. Luckily, no cat reacted.

As the resistance members left, Shadepaw remained in place, watching them vanish as they walked into the distance.

The next few words that came out of her mouth made him freeze.

"Willowpaw. Forestpaw. I know you're there."

The two apprentices looked at each other, cautious and silent, neither one of them willing to step out to confront her just yet. Shadepaw seemed to grow impatient and turned to look at their hiding spot exactly.

"There's no point in hiding," she said, "I'm not gonna kill you."

For some reason, Forestpaw doubted that.

Willowpaw stood up anyway and angrily stalked towards Shadepaw.

"How dare you?" The silver she-cat spat.

"How dare I what?" Shadepaw responded, as emotionless as ever, "betray The Glorious? Associate with the resistance? Plot murder? I don't know, how dare I do that?"

"How dare you?" Willowpaw said again, "How dare you lie to me? We were like sisters, you kept this hidden from me?"

"I had no choice," Shadepaw said, tone rising in volume as well as anger, "I was traumatised, I didn't know who to trust. And when every cat is telling me how great The Glorious is, it's probably best to keep the fact that you hate them a secret."

"Am I a bad friend?" Said Willowpaw incredulously, as though Shadepaw had said nothing, "should I have figured out the truth all by myself?"

"There was no way you could've know," the dark tabby snorted, "I've gone out of my way to make sure I don't draw any attention to myself but," she glared at Forestpaw, "thanks to you, it's becoming a lot more difficult. I told you not to tell anyone."

"You mean you weren't planning on telling me?" Willowpaw asked angrily.

"No, of course, I wasn't going to tell you," Shadepaw stood directly in front of her, suddenly reminding both of the apprentices that she was surprisingly tall for her age, "I wasn't going to tell anyone anything with my association with the resistance or about my past."

"But-" Willowpaw faltered, "I get it, okay, you're scared, I know."

"I'm not scared."

"Listen, Shadepaw," the silver she-cat growled, "you are scared, I'm not blind. You won't tell me because you're too scared I'll betray you, but that's ridiculous! We were raised together, we played together, does that mean nothing to you?"

The dark tabby's eyes flickered to the ground before returning to look back into her eyes, "so, you don't care that I'm going against the code and becoming disloyal to The Glorious?"

"I-" she thought about it for a second, "I don't care. I've never really experienced anything properly harrowing or whatever, and I've always had a go at you for being so rude and distant all the time. I guess, I'm angry because you never really let me understand why you were like this. I'm angry because you bottled this all up."

"What are you talking about?"

"You said yourself, you were left traumatised, you thought the only choice you had was revenge. But maybe, if you just talked about it, you might feel better."

"Feel better?" Repeated Shadepaw quietly.

Forestpaw could feel the rising tension and emotions between the two she-cats, it was certainly strange. Shadepaw had always been open with Willowpaw, but never this open. It was rare to see the she-cat so expressive, even if it was only through anger.

"Yeah," Willowpaw nodded, "I'm sure it's pretty therapeutic."

Shadepaw began to laugh, a strangely hollow sound that just made the two other apprentices feel horrified. Once again, Shadepaw was being expressive in a non-healthy way.

"You don't know me," growled Shadepaw, "neither of you knows me. You think that I just need to talk about my problems and it will all be better," she shook her head, "no, it won't be."

"Shadepaw-"

But Willowpaw was cut off, "no, it's my turn to speak. If you think all I need to solve my problems is to talk about my feelings then you're wrong. Darkfall is my problem, and I need to kill him, not pretend that it's all gonna be okay because it's not, Willowpaw. That monster is in camp right now and all it does it remind me of how I watched my mother die and did nothing, even though there was nothing I could do. If I could just slit his throat open, then all of this would go away, I'd be normal again."

"No, you don't understand," Willowpaw growled, "that's killing your problems, placing the blame all on one cat because you can't deal with the fact that no matter what you do, you're always going to be thinking about your mother."

"Stop pretending you know me," Shadepaw thrust her muzzle in front of the silver she-cat's face, "he is my problem, there's nothing to it."

"There is!"

"There isn't," Shadepaw snarled, "I'll kill him no matter what you say. My mother's death isn't a 'problem,' it's a fact that I need to deal with."

"You never got a chance to properly mourn her," Willowpaw said, "that's why you feel the need to attack others."

"Stop acting like this wasn't Darkfall's fault."

"I'm not saying it is," she snapped, "after what I've heard, how can I like the tom? He sounds disgusting, like a monster. But, I'm saying that maybe killing him won't satisfy you."

"It will."

"Hear me out," Willowpaw's voice had become shockingly calm again, "you can kill any cat you want, but you're not solving your problems, you're not confronting your guilt, you're just trying to destroy it but it won't work."

Shadepaw let out a final growl before unsheathing her claws, "you don't know me at all. You don't know what I've experienced, so stop pretending like you do."

"Then help me understand!"

Both of them were glaring at each other with threatening eyes and hackles raised. This took Forestpaw off guard, he had never seen Willowpaw so riled up. The silver she-cat was passionate, but never to this point. Overall, it was kind of shocking in a way to see her like this.

"No," Shadepaw's voice was low and hoarse, "I'm done with this, I'm done with everyone."

"So you're just going to give up?"

"I'm not giving up."

"Really because it sounds like it!"

The moment Willowpaw said this, Shadepaw grew even more aggressive and looked like she was about to make a lunge for the silver she-cat. Forestpaw chose this moment to intervene.

"Woah, okay, you two," he said, his stance defensive, "let's not fight about this. It's late, we're tired, we'll deal with this is in the morning."

Willowpaw, acting more mature than the usually stoic Shadepaw, pushed herself back up into a more relaxed posture and forced a nod towards the darker brown tabby, a way of thanking him, he supposed. Shadepaw, on the other hand, continued to eye the two slowly, then her ears pricked up.

"Long grass," she ordered.

The two other apprentices stood there, momentarily frozen.

"Listen, you mouse-brains."

They both stopped, stretching their ears up to listen to any disturbances. Voices and paw steps. Instantly, all three dived into the long grass, Shadepaw shoving them to the side so they were downwind rather than upwind.

At this point, the rain had loosened up a little, and was now falling quietly, less impressive. All three of the apprentices were stiff. However, whilst Forestpaw and Willowpaw were frozen due to nerves, Shadepaw had stilled herself in a sort of hunting crouch, ready to pounce out and attack an oncoming assailant. She didn't, though, she stayed in spot, eyes narrowed dangerously.

The voices grew louder.

"Honestly," said a she-cat with a surprisingly heavy accent, "I hate it here, it iz far too exposed for my taste."

Another female voice laughed, "well, Whitefeather, this was my old home before the Takeover."

The name 'Whitefeather' was familiar, one of the members of the True Glorious, well known for being surprisingly intelligent and cunning, a great strategist. The other voice was also familiar, Ivyfall, another member of the True Glorious. But, as Shadepaw had seemed to notice too, they weren't the only cats there.

"From where I came from," Whitefeather continued, "there were none of zis rabbit hunting down holes or running across moors where you are completely open to attacks on all sides."

"You grew up in a two-leg place," pointed out Woodenfoot, appearing from the grass, "you can't say much."

Whitefeather sniffed presumptuously, "I may 'ave been born in ze two-leg place, but it iz not my home."

A fourth figure appeared as well, a dark lithe tabby who Forestpaw recognised easily. Daring a quick glance over at Shadepaw, he noticed a fire building up in her eyes, that shone through the grass like stabbing knives. Forestpaw wondered how he had been so ignorant before, why would Shadepaw lie? Darkfall just had to be a murderer…

"Of course not," said Darkfall, "the lake is a far better place to live rather than with those wretched two-legs."

"The lake iz very beautiful," nodded Whitefeather, her accent still thick.

"Anyway," Ivyfall stretched, "I needed to get out of that camp, it's far too boring in there."

"Smokefoot seems to like it," said Woodenfoot, "I don't know why, though, everyone's too polite. I was taking dawn patrol with the Soldiers this morning and they all seemed nice enough, too nice. It's a shame, Soldiers in the other camps love to break rules, which means more fun for the punishers."

"What about the apprentices?" Asked Darkfall, "the high-rankers? Did any of them look good enough?"

"It was hard to judge," Ivyfall mindlessly clawed at the ground, "all of them seem a bit uptight if you ask me, one of them spoke out of turn without realising, it was good to see the look on his face when he realised what he'd done."

Whitefeather laughed, "you shouldn't be scaring them like zat."

"I didn't mean too," argued the she-cat, but good-naturedly, "anyway, there was this one she-cat…"

"What about her?" Asked Darkfall with zero curiosity.

"I don't know," the light tabby brown shrugged, "something about her seemed off to me, but I couldn't put my paw on it."

"Maybe she's a spy," he glanced around, "point her out to me next time, you usually have good judgments of cats, Ivyfall."

There was a tense moment when Forestpaw felt Shadepaw stiffen beside him. He guessed she was hoping that they were talking about another cat, rather than her.

"Iz everything alright, Darkfall?" Asked Whitefeather absently as she began to groom herself, "you seem on edge."

"Something's wrong with this place," he said finally, "Moor camp in general, I mean. It's not just that it's exposed, it's something deeper."

"Don't get all whimsical on me," snorted Woodenfoot apathetically, "if you ask me, this place is a bit boring but okay."

"No," Darkfall narrowed his eyes, ears pricking up, "someone's listening to us."

* * *

 **A/N: A lot to unpack in this chapter. First of all, Forestpaw isn't as much as an idiot as we thought he was. Second of all, Willowpaw is trying to be a good sister but Shadepaw doesn't listen to anyone. Fun fact, whilst I was writing that argument, I couldn't figure out which side to take. If you ask me, both she-cats made good points. Finally, Darkfall seems to have a great sense of foresight, a very familiar trait. Also, Whitefeather has a French accent, I don't know why.**

 **Anyway, what did you think of the chapter? What do you think of the True Glorious now that they're all together? And, most importantly, do you think that I'll actually write Shadepaw's first confrontation with Darkfall, or I'll delay it even more?**


	12. The Hallucination

**Featherfrost of Stormclan- We all hate Darkfall, believe me…**

* * *

 **Chapter 10:**

In that moment, Shadepaw was gripped with a surprising amount of fear. At first, she struggled to recognise the emotion, it hadn't been something she felt since she was a kit. But, in that moment, she was brought back to that night in the moonpool after witnessing her mother's death and suddenly realising she was alone in the world.

And then it was over.

She shook off that fear and focused on the current situation. She had backed herself into a tight corner with no means of escape. Glancing around, she noticed that both Willowpaw and Forestpaw were looking at her expectantly, that was just great. Instead of every cat for themselves, it had somehow changed to every cat for themselves plus these two other cats who need your help.

It wasn't fair, if they hadn't followed her, then they wouldn't have got themselves into this mess.

Then again, she couldn't let them get caught either. What if one of them betrayed her? Willowpaw probably wouldn't do that, the two of them were too close. But, as for Forestpaw, she was still unsure about him, he was only a Soldier after all.

' _Think, Shadepaw, think,'_ She inwardly shouted to herself, observing the environment closely.

Darkfall obviously had great senses, so there was no more hiding. This time, she just had to run away. Like she always did. As carefully as possible, she began to reverse, gesturing with only the slight twitch of an ear for the others to do the same. Now, they were completely encased in the grass, it was all about getting them to understand what to do next.

Quietly, she whispered something to Forestpaw beside her.

"Run, split up, it'd be better if they only catch one of us instead of all of us. Wait for my signal."

Forestpaw, in a moment with a surprising amount of intelligence, lightly nodded and whispered the command to Willowpaw, on his other side.

"Where?" Asked Ivyfall, "Are you sure?"

"Very sure," Darkfall confirmed.

The grass completely blocked her view, so she couldn't see the group. However, she could still hear them clearly

"How many are there?" Asked Woodenfoot with a growl.

"Two, maybe three."

"Where are they?"

Now, Shadepaw couldn't see where Darkfall pointed to but could hazard a guess that they were coming straight towards their hiding places.

And, in what was only a few seconds but felt like forever, Shadepaw gave that all important signal and all three apprentices tore off in opposite direction.

"I see some of zem!" Yowled Whitefeather in her thick accent, "zis way!"

Shadepaw could hear thunderous paw steps, but they didn't seem to be heading in her direction, they must be going after the other two! No time to make sacrifices now, Shadepaw made sure she was running in the complete opposite direction to the other two, she couldn't afford getting caught.

She ran and ran, the rustling of the grass too loud to let her identify whether other cats were following her. It was only when she reached a bare, empty tree somewhere on the moor did she slow down.

She stopped, listening. An owl was hooting in the distance, she must've been close to the forest. Other than that, there was no sound at all aside from the breeze stirring the grass and gently rushing through the air. Shadepaw flattened her ears against her head, claws still unsheathed, just in case. Had she been followed? Surely not.

Whilst Shadepaw was still pumped up on adrenaline, the world around her was calm, silent like no one was there. She strained to hear something but it was so, so quiet. Almost _too_ quiet.

Then, all of a sudden, the grass blades disappeared and she was plunged with light as the sun rose. What? What was happening?

The moor had vanished, and she was suddenly on an empty plain of sand with the sun beating down on her. She was suddenly in a desert. How she got there was beyond her, she had been surrounded by grass and greenery only a few seconds ago.

"What?" She glanced around confused.

All of a sudden, the ground beneath her vanished and she was falling through darkness until she hit the ground, still shrouded in black shadows.

"I don't understand," She shook her head, "what's going on?"

She stood up and began to back away, eyes darting left to right. She bumped into something.

The bare tree! Glancing back around she had returned to the moor. Had she just hallucinated, was she going crazy?

"Maybe Willowpaw's right," she muttered to herself, "I need more sleep."

A paw step!

Carefully, she backed away, back into the long grass. But it wasn't grass, it was red, burning water. What was the word? Molten lava… She let out a screech of surprised and moved away from the deadly substance, but it was approaching her quickly, deadly.

"This isn't real," she said, "none of this is real."

And the lava vanished.

"Impressive," said a voice, "not many cats are able to do that."

Shadepaw didn't say anything else but backed further into the grass, eyes narrowed, searching for the source of the voice.

Darkfall emerged, as tall and as intimidating as ever, his eyes directly on her.

"There's no point, apprentice," he said, "I can see you."

She remained crouched but suddenly stiff. Could this be her moment? She was all alone, just she and him and, by the sound of it, he didn't seem to recognise her or maybe he just couldn't see her clearly. She waited, claws unsheathed just in case.

He sighed when she didn't move, apparently tired.

"I don't have time for this," he muttered, "come out now and we won't have any problems."

There had to be a way out of this, she just had to think. The moment Darkfall knew she was here, the moment he figured who she was, it was all over. There would be no spying for the resistance, no revenge plan. No, she would be dead.

Her mind drifted back to that day at the Moonpool, the day where she had to look that murderer in the eye for the first time. Here she was again, trapped, with no escape, looking that murderer in the eye for the second time. No, but the first time she had escaped, she had gotten away from him. How? How had she done it again?

" _I'm not going to die," she said, slowly, firmly._

 _Darkfall stumbled backwards in reaction to something that remained unknown to Shadekit at first._

 _Then, she looked at her paws._

 _From her own, tiny paws, fire was sparking._

Shadepaw remembered the moment and closed her eyes, had it been real? It must've been. She had gone through too much crazy shit in the past five minutes for it all turn out to be fake.

"I'm waiting," growled Darkfall, getting impatient.

She focused on her hatred, her hatred for this tom. The tom who had murdered her mother, the tom who had shoved her head underwater and let her drown. No, he deserved to die, definitely…

Bang!

There was a loud crash followed by the sound of cracking. She opened her eyes. The bare tree that had once stood solitary, alone, was now alight with fire.

It had worked!

What Shadepaw had thought to be impossible, had worked!

No time to contemplate it now, Darkfall was distracted.

"Impossible," the tom growled, "there's no way."

Without hesitation, Shadepaw sprinted away, hoping and praying to any cat who was listening that Willowpaw and Forestpaw were alright.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter, it's Christmas Eve so I wanted to get one out quickly. Don't expect another chapter until at least the 29th, I'm on holiday.**

 **Anyway, what did y'all think about that? A lot of crazy shit went down in this chapter which will make sense (sort of) in the future, but I'm just happy to finally get to be introduction the more weird, supernatural elements of this story.**

 **What do you think just happened? Share some of your theories!**


	13. The Act

**Reviews**

 **Pikapower9- You're definitely on the right tracks ;)**

 **Guest- Thank you!**

* * *

 **Chapter 11:**

They, on the other hand, had both been caught almost instantly. Forestpaw had been too loud, drawing the True Glorious to his location who then proceeded to pounce on top of him, not realising he was only half their size. Willowpaw, bless her heart, having heard the commotion, had tried her best to help but, as she was just as young and inexperienced as Forestpaw, only ended up getting herself caught alongside him.

Wherever Shadepaw was, they were unsure of, but chose not to voice these concerns to one another, for fear of giving their friend away to the True Glorious, so they stopped struggling.

"Zey are just apprentices?" Stated Whitefeather in her thick accent, though she framed it more like a question.

Forestpaw, whilst not as observant as most, was not stupid enough to miss the fact that Darkfall was not with the group. Inwardly, he worried. The powerful, dark tabby tom must have gone after Shadepaw. And that was not a nice thought.

Ivyfall, in the absence of Darkfall, was quick to take charge.

"What do you two think you're doing?" She asked in a tone that was more curious than angry, but still commanding at the same time, "were you eavesdropping?"

Willowpaw looked at the older she-cat fearfully, "we didn't mean to, ma'am! My friend and I," she gestured to Forestpaw, "just couldn't sleep so we decided to sneak out of camp. When we heard you, we were so scared of getting caught that we hid."

It was the perfect lie. Forestpaw, whilst surprised, couldn't help but admire Willowpaw's quick thinking and her shocking ability to lie with faltering. Then again, when you were raised alongside Shadepaw, whose life was the epitome of a lie, you were going to get certain traits and skills off of her.

"A believable excuse," Whitefeather looked at them carefully, "Zey look too young and stupid to be spies."

Forestpaw resented that but didn't dare argue.

Ivyfall's face remained stony with suspicion, "was it just you two?"

Willowpaw nodded vigorously, "yes, just me and him."

Woodenfoot scanned the two warily before letting his eyes rest of Forestpaw, who had been silent up until this point, "you, I recognise you from that patrol this morning. You're a soldier."

Forestpaw, looking slightly disturbed at being acknowledged, gave a nervous nod, "I am."

"That means you are as well, right?" The big, tabby tom said, directing his attention to Willowpaw.

The silver-she cat shook her head, "no, I'm a high-ranker."

Finally, Ivyfall seemed to relax. In fact, the pretty, light brown, tabby she-cat let out a small chuckle.

"A high-ranker and a soldier?" She chimed teasingly, "no wonder they didn't want to get caught."

Forestpaw flattened his ears against his head and looked at his paws whilst Willowpaw looked embarrassed.

"What?" The she-cat exclaimed in a pitch that was unnaturally high, "no, no, no, it's nothing like that. He's just a friend, believe me."

It was only at this point did Forestpaw realise that Willowpaw was putting on an act. Whilst the she-cat was nowhere near on the same level of cold, distant intelligence that Shadepaw seemed to have, she would never act as stupid as this. No, Willowpaw was just coming off as a mouse-brained, bratty, bumbling apprentice right now, and that was far, far different from what she was really like. Forestpaw admired this acting skill as Ivyfall seemed fooled as she looked at the two in amusement.

"Sure, whatever," she shrugged, "but you shouldn't be out of camp this late, not for any reason."

It wasn't a particularly stern or firm lecture, but it was a telling-off all the same.

"Of course not," Willowpaw stammered, "it won't happen again, ma'am, promise."

"Yeah," Forestpaw went along with it, "we're sorry…"

"Good," Ivyfall stood up, yawning and stretching, "if that's all-"

She was interrupted by Darkfall's sudden appearance from the grass, shocking the group into silence as they all took a couple of seconds to absorb the feeling of his presence. Usually, the tom managed to carry around an aura of coolness and calm as though he were the nicest cat you'd ever meet. His green eyes, whilst cold, would somehow be inviting, charming. It was this about him that made Forestpaw wonder how he could ever do bad.

This issue, however, was resolved the moment Darkfall stepped out of the grass. Gone was the relaxed posture and inviting atmosphere, replaced by a cat that, whilst not terrifying, would make any normal cat feel on edge. Whilst he seemed to be in control, his pelt prickled with the slightest hint of frustration and anger. His green eyes glinted with malice and impatience, yet, at the same time, managed to emote victory and pride simultaneously. An expression that unsettled Forestpaw right to his very core.

"Who are these two?" Darkfall asked, looking at Forestpaw, "aren't you a Soldier?"

Forestpaw blinked and gave him the same answer he had given Woodenfoot, "I am."

"And you?" His gaze directed at Willowpaw, though his tone seemed to be surprisingly impatient and bored, "who are you?"

"Willowpaw," she told him, looking more uneasy than she had before, "I'm a high-ranker."

Forestpaw didn't miss the look of disgust that flashed across the silver apprentice's face when Darkfall addressed her. It reminded him of the argument that she had had with Shadepaw only a few moments before the True Glorious showed up. Forestpaw wondered whether this look of disgust was because Willowpaw was angry at Darkfall for what he did to Shadepaw's mother.

"Right," Darkfall nodded, though there was a sly look in his eye, "and the other she-cat, what was her name?"

Forestpaw stopped himself from physically reacting, so Darkfall had gone after Shadepaw but didn't seem to have caught her. At least both apprentices could live with the satisfaction that Shadepaw hadn't been revealed.

"Other she-cat?" Willowpaw feigned an impressively real-looking face of confusion, "what other she-cat?"

Ivyfall looked at Willowpaw, this time with suspicion rather than amusement, "she told us that there were only the two of them."

But Darkfall looked too absorbed into his thoughts. He studied both apprentices up and down, Forestpaw shifted uncomfortably as Darkfall glared at him. His heart was beating so hard, he wondered how the others weren't able to hear it. Willowpaw too looked uncomfortable, there was no hiding that. But her eyes were glittering with some sort of determination.

"These two don't matter," said the dark tabby finally, his cold, distant tone very reminiscent of another cat, "they're just two apprentices messing around."

Forestpaw visibly relaxed.

Darkfall looked up at Ivyfall, "I need to speak with Smokefoot, there's something important I need to tell him."

* * *

Shadepaw had wanted to run but, after spending a few minutes mulling over it, she realised that she couldn't exactly be a spy if she ran away from Moor Camp. Plus, it would be much more difficult to kill Darkfall if she wasn't at least involved with The Glorious in someway. No, she had to stay in camp for now.

So, she waltzed back into camp through the dirt place as though nothing had happened. Inwardly, however, her mind was reeling. Ever since that day at the Moonpool, Shadepaw had trained herself to become a cold, hard, distant cat who didn't believe in anything that wasn't based on logic. It was why it was so easy to let go of her faith in Starclan from such a young age. How could such an omnibenevolent force that was supposed to watch over the clans let them fall? How could they be so cruel to Shadepaw? They hadn't protected her mother when she was drowned in the Moonpool, that certainly wasn't loving of them. No, Shadepaw didn't work on blind faith or pointless beliefs. There was no such thing as miracles, only logic.

Yet, despite all of her precious 'logic' telling her that she should've been killed that night at the Moonpool, just like her mother, here she was, alive and well.

And again, tonight, when she had been cornered by Darkfall with no means of escape. She, with nothing but her own will, had set the tree alight. Not to mention that strange, twisted hallucination she had had just before that which had come out of nowhere. Logic had no answer for that either, only the theory that she was going crazy. Then again, Darkfall had acknowledged the hallucination, seemingly aware that she had had it. So, once again, logic came back empty handed.

"None of this makes any sense," she muttered to herself, walking into the apprentice's den.

"What doesn't make any sense?" Asked a voice, making her jump.

"Sootpaw?" She looked down at the black tom, confused, "weren't you asleep?"

"I was until you barged in here and stepped on my face," he pointed to his cheek where his fur had been ruffled to prove his point, "what happened to you? You look ill."

' _Vulnerable,'_ Shadepaw realised, ' _I look vulnerable.'_

"Well, I'm fine," she said in a cold tone, "just tired."

Sootpaw laughed, as though she had just told him a funny joke. His laugh, whilst jovial, was soft and quiet, as to not wake up Sparrowpaw and Whirlpaw. He also didn't seem to be teasing or mocking her, he just seemed amused.

"Since you've joined this den, Shadepaw," began the black apprentice, "you've gotten up every morning before dawn, you also don't fall asleep until it's near morning yet you never seem tired."

"Have you been watching me sleep?"

"It was around a moon ago," he said, "you did it like five nights in a row. It was just something I noticed."

"Yeah, well," She dug her claws into the ground, "whilst I happy that you're concerned with my health, I don't need you to watch me when I'm asleep."

"I'm just pointing it out," shrugged Sootpaw, "I don't actually care."

"Whatever," she said bitterly, surprising herself with her own grumpiness.

He was right, Shadepaw never got enough sleep, mainly due to the nightmares. But she wasn't about to confess to Sootpaw all her woes, her secrets and her hidden emotions. Sootpaw couldn't be trusted, he was just some tom that was smarter than he looked and needed to stick his nose out of her own business.

"My advice," he said, yawning, "get some sleep, sleep is great. Also, don't go treading on cat's faces, they don't like it when you do that."

"Yeah?" She looked back further into the den, noticing that Willowpaw's nest was still empty, "if you're not careful, I might have to do a lot more to your face than just treading on it."

Sootpaw gazed warily at her paws, where she was unconsciously sheathing and unsheathing her claws.

"Fine then," he said, "also, where's Willowpaw."

"Beats me," she shrugged, turning her back on the tom and settling into her nest.

Before she closed her eyes, she spared a glance at Willowpaw's empty nest and felt an uncomfortable feeling rise up in her throat. After all that had happened, Willowpaw knew the truth now and, whilst she was certainly more trustworthy than Forestpaw, there was no telling if she got caught by the True Glorious and whether she would keep her a secret.

Sighing, Shadepaw shifted in her nest, lying down in her nest. She closed her eyes but didn't sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: I just realised how slow paced this story is. We're like on chapter 11 and basically still on act 1 which is pretty neat I guess.**

 **Anyway, not too much happening in this chapter other than proving that Willowpaw can lie just as well as Shadepaw.**

 **What's your opinion on Willowpaw? What about Ivyfall?**


	14. The Trial

**Chapter 12:**

Shadepaw woke up that next morning to an aching body. Much to her surprise, she had eventually fallen asleep and, from the looks of her messed up fur, she had fallen into a pretty deep one. For once, she had not dreamed at all, or she had just forgotten about her dream. Honestly, she was feeling a little dazed in that moment.

Slowly, she glanced up to see who had woken her up.

"Morning," said Willowpaw with a loud yawn, "you actually managed to sleep for once."

Shadepaw looked over the silver she-cat who was grooming herself, though her eyes kept flickering over to the entrance of the den, as though she were nervous. The darker tabby exchanged a dark glance with her but Willowpaw gave away nothing, probably because Sparrowpaw and Whirlpaw weren't too far away, messing around at the back of the den.

"Guess I was just feeling tired," replied Shadepaw in a tone that gave away no emotion, "is it dawn?"

"Just about," Willowpaw squinted, looking through the thick brambles that made up the den's roof, "we just got woken up to give us time to prepare for the trials."

"Trials?" Shadepaw was temporarily confused before remembering the conversation in the Overseer's den they had yesterday, "Oh, yeah, that."

In that moment, Whirlpaw chose to come bounding over to them. Shadepaw ignored him and began to smooth down her ruffled fur with cool, calm, controlled licks. This, however, didn't seem to put the silver and white tom.

"It sucks that you two are the youngest in the den," he said arrogantly, "it means you have a bigger disadvantage."

"Whatever, Whirlpaw," scoffed Willowpaw, "at least we're not all as conceited as you."

He frowned, "conceited?"

"It means egotistic," butted in Shadepaw, "you know, being full of oneself."

"I am not egotistical!" He argued, egotistically, "I'm just pointing out that you have a disadvantage."

"Do they?" Sootpaw appeared behind them, he hadn't bothered to groom his puffy, thick, black fur, "because I remember that one-time Shadepaw managed to tackle you to the ground in less than a minute when she was only a moon old."

"Shadepaw doesn't count," Sparrowpaw argued, backing up his friend, "she's a freak."

"Thanks," said Shadepaw impassively.

"What? It's true," said the tom, "you always go out for extra training and are weirdly built for a she-cat."

"Are you calling she-cats weak?" She asked.

"Well…" he chose his next words carefully, "I'm just saying, in comparison to toms…"

"Hey, I could beat you any day," interrupted Willowpaw, "and the only reason Shadepaw can beat Whirlpaw easily is because she pays attention in training, rather than choosing to put fire ants on other cats' backs."

"She can't beat me 'easily,'" Argued Whirlpaw.

Every cat looked at him doubtfully.

"If you lot are done bickering," said Wavewatcher, who had suddenly appeared at the den's entrance, "you're wanted in the clearing."

"Right," said Sootpaw, "we're coming, sir."

Wavewatcher, after giving the group one more irritated look, padded towards the centre of Moor Camp's clearing, followed by the apprentices, who were still silently squabbling amongst themselves. When they arrived in the centre, Shadepaw was surprised to see that their mentors were waiting for them. She padded over to Shadowfur who politely greeted her as she joined her.

"What's going on?" Asked Shadepaw, observing as each mentor met up with their own apprentice, "are we in trouble or something."

"No, actually," Shadowfur shook her head, "we're just here to give you some advice, about the trials."

"Right," said Shadepaw, shifting herself into a more comfortable position, "what about them?"

"Well," Shadowfur glanced around, "it will take maybe a half-moon to finish them all, so I won't be training you for a while."

"Okay," nodded Shadepaw, accepting that, but she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Whilst she didn't like most of the high-rank warriors as they were all snobbish and self-entitled, Shadowfur had always been a good teacher. She had been patient with the apprentice's rather cold attitude and had skipped over all the basics, teaching her how to really fight.

"And, there's something I need to ask you, Shadepaw."

"What?"

"I know what you're like, you always try to stick with the crowd, but, take my advice," she sighed, "don't hold back in these Trials. You're a strong she-cat, this is probably the only chance you're gonna get to prove yourself."

Shadepaw nodded, "I won't hold back."

"You promise?"

"Promise."

That was a lie, of course, she had to hold back, she couldn't afford to let herself be noticed. She didn't want to actually become the next member of the True Glorious because, honestly, who cared? Not to mention, she had her spy duty to keep up with now. Then again, maybe she should talk to Emberpaw about this...

"Anyway," Shadowfur cleared her throat to continue, "you've been given the warm-up task to hunt until sun-high, then you'll be meeting with the other apprentices, with your fresh-kill, on top of the high-hill, you know which one that is?"

"Yep."

"Good, now, off you go, don't want to slow you down."

Shadepaw gave one last farewell before heading out of camp, she hadn't gotten very far when Willowpaw caught up with her. They were alone for only a couple of seconds until Sootpaw also turned up, meaning Shadepaw still couldn't ask her about what had happened last night, and she was beginning to feel impatient.

"Where are you guys hunting?" Asked the black furred tom.

"Down by the stream, I think," said Shadepaw, "there's always a lot of prey there."

"I'm gonna stick by the lake," Willowpaw shrugged.

The three split off, Shadepaw heading down by the stream, letting herself get mindlessly absorbed in her thoughts whilst hunting as she contemplated her options. After the events of last night, she was feeling more on edge than usual and that wasn't something she was used to. No, Shadepaw was always the cat in control, always the cat with more knowledge and power over any other. But, whenever Darkfall was around… She let out a deep growl of frustration.

There was no way she was going to be able to avoid him in camp, not with all this 'trails' nonsense. Not to mention, she had told Gorgestar that she would be a spy for the resistance, a move she was beginning to regret as it slowly dawned on her how much more difficult her life would be with that responsibility.

She let out a frustrated huff and kicked the dirt, scaring away the mouse she had been stalking.

"Dammit," she cursed, watching the prey scamper away.

"You're moody today," said a voice behind her.

Shadepaw, not one to be surprised, turned around, "what are you doing here, Emberpaw?" She asked the ginger she-cat in a tired, worn out tone.

"My job," Emberpaw said in her usual, happy-go-lucky voice, "you're a spy, right? Well, I'm a spy too, so I'm supposed to help you out, duh."

"Right," Shadepaw narrowed her eyes, "and how do you plan to do that?"

"Well," the ginger she-cat flicked an ear, "Gorgestar told me to ask you about that trial thing. The True Glorious did when they came to Forest camp, but they don't really tell the soldiers about it."

Shadepaw scanned the surroundings, first for eavesdroppers and then for any more signs of prey, "It's a test," she explained, "they wanna see who's gonna be the heir to the True Glorious or something."

"Gorgestar figured it was something like that," Emberpaw nodded, "so he came up with this great idea."

"What was it?" Her tone was flat and bored.

"He wants you to actually try to win the Trials!"

"What? That's a terrible idea."

"No, it isn't, think about it!"

"I am thinking about it."

Emberpaw let out a frustrated sigh, "you're not thinking hard enough, then, just imagine it, Shadepaw!" Her tone went dreamy, "a resistance spy, inside the True Glorious! We'd no everything about their secret meetings and all! Isn't that great."

Shadepaw, despite being able to see the benefits it would have for the resistance, was too selfish to make such a risky move, knowing the consequences it might have.

"I'm trying to stay hidden from the True Glorious," she told Emberpaw, "especially Darkfall, he might figure out who I am if I'm any good at the Trials."

"He won't remember," Emberpaw shook her head, "there are loads of cats in the resistance who know, or knew, someone who was killed by Darkfall, in fact, I reckon he's killed so many cats that he can't even remember the name of one cat he's killed. At least, that's what Stormpelt told me."

Shadepaw sighed, "what if my cover gets blown?"

"You tell them nothing," the ginger she-cat's green eyes grew serious, "no matter whether they torture or humiliate you, the resistance must remain hidden."

Giving in, Shadepaw nodded. "Fine then, but if this all goes terribly wrong, it's your fault."

"Hey, don't hate the messenger," she shrugged, "this was Gorgestar's idea."

"Right, right," Shadepaw looked at her, "if you don't mind, I need to get back to hunting."

Emberpaw gave a cheeky, yet charming, grin and turned back around, vanishing into the grass.

"Christ," muttered Shadepaw when she was alone again, "I hate that she-cat."

* * *

Finally, once she had finished hunting and it looked to be around sun-high, she arrived on top of high-hill, still thinking about her conversation with Emberpaw earlier. When she arrived on top, both Willowpaw, Sootpaw and Whirlpaw were already there, talking quietly amongst themselves. She couldn't see where Sparrowpaw was. On the opposite side of the hill, sat three out of the four members of the True Glorious; Ivyfall, Whitefeather and Woodenfoot were speaking to one another in much louder voices than the apprentices nearby. Shadepaw couldn't help but feel relieved at the lack of Darkfall.

She wandered over to the group, dropping her fresh-kill on a nearby pile.

"Is Sparrowpaw here yet?" She asked as she sat down between Whirlpaw and Sootpaw.

Willowpaw shook her head, "He's still out hunting. Though I wish he'd hurry up, it's freezing up here and I really want to know what's going on."

Shadepaw couldn't help but agree. High-hill was, surprisingly, a high hill. Whilst it was still covered in fresh, green grass, the growth had been stunted by wind, compared to other parts of the moor. Whilst most of the grass could grow taller than a cat, it was far too breezy and cold for any grass on high-hill to reach above a cat's paws, which made it a good place for battle training. Though, it was still a risky place to be. Whilst one side had a nice, gentle slope which led nicely to the top, the opposite side had a surprisingly high drop to the moor down below. It was the side of the hill which, over many years, had been worn away by harsh winds, leady to a steep cliff that could make any cat's stomach lurch when they looked down.

Whilst absorbed into her thoughts, Sparrowpaw arrived. The light brown tom looked startled at having arrived last and hurriedly dropped his prey onto the pile and rejoined his fellow apprentices.

Ivyfall's eyes flickered back over to them and Shadepaw noticed the way that Willowpaw looked at her paws the moment the True Glorious began to walk over to them. Shadepaw guessed that both her and Forestpaw did get caught, but she didn't have time to contemplate it as Ivyfall was speaking.

"Well, you're all here now so I'm not gonna waste any time," the light brown she-cat glanced back at Woodenfoot, "want to explain?"

The large tabby pushed his way forward, looking at the group dark, amber eyes. "This might only be your first trial, but I don't see the point in messing around. This will be one of your hardest trials you'll have to undergo but also your most important one as it is your first, understand?"

All the apprentices nodded nervously.

"The gist of it is," he glanced back at Whitefeather and Ivyfall before turning back to them, "each one of you is gonna have to fight one of us. One on one, no holding back, right now."

Whirlpaw was the first to speak up, "that's crazy! We're only apprentices."

"We're not expecting you to win," Woodenfoot said to him, "we're seeing how long you can hold your own. You think that in battle, your opponent is gonna care how old you are? No, it doesn't matter."

Whirlpaw shrunk back but gave a timid nod.

"Right," the large tom flicked his tail, "not much more I need to say. No teeth, no claws, we don't want any cat's throat getting sliced out. You pin your opponent down for over five seconds, you win, got it?"

They all nodded.

"Good, who wants to start?"

No one offered. Woodenfoot sighed.

"You, the cat who doesn't know how to shut up, what's your name?"

He gestured to Whirlpaw who was looking very nervous.

"Uh- Whirlpaw."

"Okay, Whirlpaw," he said his name in a mocking way, "you can go first. Let's see how good you are against me."

"Against you?" The silver and white tom looked around, as though he'd rather be anywhere else.

"Yes, me," Woodenfoot sighed, growing impatient, "Now, hurry up, we don't have all year."

The group spread out, creating a space for the two to duke it out. Shadepaw watched, interested as, with trembling legs, Whilrpaw crouched into a battle position, ready to face Woodenfoot who hadn't even bothered to crouch low and had chosen to stand tall, looking down at the apprentice."

"Ready?" Asked Whitefeather, rolling the 'r' in her accent, "go!"

The fight was over in a few seconds when Whirlpaw had tried to go for the defensive route, probably a smart move but not that smart when Woodenfoot easily bowled into him, knocking him off his paws in one instant and pinning him underneath his paws. Whirlpaw, who looked ready to cry, simply gave up, knowing it was a lost cause.

Sparrowpaw, Sootpaw and Willowpaw looked on in horror whilst Shadepaw remained indifferent. Whirlpaw had been stupid with his approach but she knew exactly what she was going to do and already knew that she wasn't going to go down as easily as he did.

* * *

 **A/N: Right, first chapter of the new year. I haven't got much to say, really… I don't go back to school until the eighth so expect some more updates. Then again, I'm a tad busy this week with friends n' stuff, so I might not be all that active.**

 **Anyway, what did you think of this chapter? All criticisms are welcome!**


	15. The Prisoner

**Chapter 13:**

Ivyfall watched the fight with a certain sort of disdain as each of the apprentices, one by one, fought against their opponents. The tom who had gone first, she couldn't remember his name, had been defeated in practically seconds. Next went another tom, who had gone up against Whitefeather who, also, easily pinned him to the ground in a few seconds. The most recent fight had been Whitefeather versus the she-cat who had been sneaking around last night, Willowpaw. Whilst, surprisingly, she had fared better than either of the other two, she had also been pinned down easily. So far, though, she had been the most impressive, and that wasn't saying much.

"You," Woodenfoot said to the dark grey tabby she-cat who hardly reacted when she was addressed, "you can go next."

She nodded, getting to her paws, ready to face whoever she was fighting. The first thing Ivyfall noticed was that the she-cat's eyes held no sort of fear or anxiety at all, neither were they smug or boastful. Her face remained impassive, as though she were just doing a normal, daily task. Woodenfoot looked ready to fight, but Ivyfall interrupted.

"I'll take this one," the light brown she-cat said, watching the grey tabby.

"Okay," shrugged Woodenfoot, looking vaguely intrigued.

Ivyfall took a moment to regard the she-cat, who she still didn't know the name of. The she-cat hadn't even crouched into a battle position, she stood, tall and confident, almost showing off.

"Ready?" Said Whitefeather, "go."

Much to Ivyfall's surprise, the apprentice jumped straight into action, not even hesitating. Ivyfall only had a moment to regain herself before smoothly dodging the attack. The apprentice landed heavily on all four paws but quickly turned to face her opponent again. This time, the older cat was ready. Using her greater height to her advantage, Ivyfall managed to quickly knock the apprentice down to the ground, but she didn't stay down. Using her strength, the apprentice pushed back at Ivyfall with her hind legs, sending her flying backwards.

With a heavy 'thump' Ivyfall just managed to land back on her paws and narrowed her eyes at the grey she-cat. This was going a lot differently from the other fights she had observed. In this case, the apprentice, instead of using defence, was just attacking. Whilst claws and teeth weren't allowed, there was no ban against harming your opponent, and neither the apprentice or Ivyfall were holding back in that regard. This would be interesting.

The apprentice had taken her opponent's momentarily dazed state to her advantage and ran towards Ivyfall again. The light brown she-cat turned to face her but was taken off guard once again when the apprentice ferociously swivelled around whilst still moving, slamming her side into Ivyfall, causing the older cat to stumble backwards. Then, with shocking speed, the apprentice charged into her again, causing her to fall to the ground.

But Ivyfall wasn't about to let herself get defeated by some apprentice. She kicked with her hind legs, hitting the apprentice square in the chest with a solid hit. It seemed to be a more powerful move than Ivyfall had intended to me.

The apprentice went flying backwards but, luckily, managed to flip over in the air, so she landed on her paws. But, because of the force of the kick, she began to skid backwards, skidding too far.

High-hill had a steep drop on one side, almost like a cliff. Whilst, if you were to fall down it, you wouldn't die, but your bones probably wouldn't be intact either. Which was why, when the apprentice seemed to fall over the edge, the group seemed to freeze, Willowpaw gasped.

Cautiously, Ivyfall approached the edge, ready to look down and see the mangled body of the apprentice. Instead, she was knocked backwards by a grey blur pulling herself upwards and soaring through the air. The apprentice had managed to grip onto the side of the cliff and, with what was probably a lot of effort, pulled herself back up onto solid ground.

Ivyfall was undeniably impressed, this apprentice had easily shown much higher levels of endurance and skill than any of the others. The light brown tabby grinned, impressed. Yet, this fight had to end at some point.

The apprentice landed solidly on four paws, shaking herself a little, looking a little dazed and far more tired than she had before. In the moment of distraction, Ivyfall took the opportunity to pounce on the she-cat, taking her off guard. It only took a moment for her to pin down her hind legs so she couldn't kick back at her, defeating the apprentice at last.

* * *

Shadepaw had wanted to fight back the moment she had been pinned, but the slight dizziness in her head and the aching of her paws prevented her from even trying. So, she dropped her head to the ground, a sign of defeat. She didn't know how long the fight had gone on for. In her head, it had only felt like a few, rushed, blurry seconds but, realistically, it had gone on much longer than that.

"That was impressive," remarked Ivyfall, getting off of her.

Shadepaw, slowly, pushed herself back onto all four paws, her facial expression never shifting from the bored, indifferent look it always seemed to hold.

"What's your name, apprentice?" Asked the light brown tabby, looking down at her with deep curiosity.

"Shadepaw," she told her curtly.

"Well, Shadepaw," Ivyfall grinned, "no other cat has lasted that long yet, I'd be proud if I were you."

Shadepaw did not look prideful, just a bit bored.

"Okay," was all she answered with.

Ivyfall seemed to inspect the apprentice through intrigued, amber eyes, gaging the apprentice's curious behaviour and put-off manner. Then, after what felt like a century, the she-cat turned back around to address Woodenfoot.

"Well then, onto the next fight, I suppose."

Woodenfoot, who looked more amused by the situation than anything else, simply nodded and turned to the one apprentice who had yet to fight, Sparrowpaw.

In the end, the fight ended just as quickly as the other ones had, Sparrowpaw pinned and panting on the ground only a few moments after the fight began. Woodenfoot stood up and turned back to Whitefeather and Ivyfall, looking as though he had just swatted a fly away. Whirlpaw gave Sparrowpaw some help to get him back to his feet and looked to see what the True Glorious would say next.

"There's not much to say about that," Ivyfall stated, "some of you were much, much better than others."

Her amber gazed connected with Shadepaw's as she said that.

"But, most of you were absolutely awful. If you want even a tiny chance of becoming a True Glorious, you're gonna have to work a lot harder to really impress me over the next few trials."

Shadepaw, not paying much attention to the conversation, was sucked deep into her thoughts. All these cats were undeniably strong fighters, being able to defeat most of the apprentices in mere seconds. Whilst Shadepaw had put up more of a fight, Ivyfall still easily had the upper hand in the fight. These cats were definitely skilled, no wonder the resistance was so worried about them.

Maybe, just maybe, killing Darkfall was going to be harder than she thought.

* * *

"You and Yellowpaw are one prisoner duty today," said Gooseglare and Forestpaw struggled to suppress a groan.

After last night, he had stumbled into his nest and fallen asleep in a wink. Yet, moments later, he had been woken up to do the dawn patrol _and_ now was on prisoner duty for the rest of the day. No words could describe how much he hated this. Every Soldier hated prisoner duty, they hated having to be trapped in that tiny den trying to deal with skinny, crazy, starving cats who probably wanted to kill him.

Yellowpaw, a dark grey apprentice who was only a moon older than him, also let out a heavy sigh.

"No complaining you two," Gooseglare said sternly, "Leapfoot will be your supervisor, so do what he says."

Reluctantly, the two apprentices nodded and walked across camp to Leapfoot, an old, brown and white Soldier with one ear missing and a lousy attitude. When he saw the two apprentices coming his way he seemed to get grumpier if that was even possible.

"Right, you two," he said in his grumbly voice, "see that rabbit over there?"

The two apprentices, simultaneously, looked over to where the rabbit was. It was a skinny thing and it looked like it had been killed a few days ago. It didn't look very nice, the rabbit's ribs were visible and it seemed to have a broken paw and it's thick fur seemed soggy and grey, like it had been left out in the overnight storm, which it probably had. Overall, not something Forestpaw was keen on. Whilst Soldiers usually had to wait until the high-rankers were finished eating, he certainly would rather starve than eat anything that looked like that.

"Yeah?" Said Yellowpaw.

"One of you go get it, then follow me."

When Forestpaw realised that Yellowpaw wasn't going to get it, he let out a huff and walked over to it, picking it up delicately in his teeth and holding it in a way that meant it wouldn't touch his fur. The smell coming off of it was disgusting like it was rotten.

When he reached Leapfoot, the grumpy Soldier flicked his tail and guided the two apprentices into the prisoner's den. It was a small gave, dug into the rocky side of the camp that, whilst it was well sheltered and dry, was not a great place to live. It was probably dug out by a badger which abandoned it long ago. It was a small tunnel that was a squeeze for any decent-sized cat to get through, so it was probably useful that the only cats who came in here daily were prisoners, who were too skinny to be considered 'decent' in any way shape or form.

The tunnel led to a small clearing inside the den, the only light entering it was from outside, the rest of the den was dark and claustrophobically tight-spaced. Despite this, the prisoners were difficult to spot as they hid in the shadows, meaning Forestpaw had to squint to even get a glimpse of them.

"Throw the rabbit on the floor," ordered Leapfoot in a low growl.

Forestpaw did so, glad to get rid of it. He chucked it so it landed on the floor with a disgusting 'squelch' and stayed there. No prisoner came to get it, they all remained hidden.

"That's it for the next few days," Leapfoot growled to the invisible cats, "if you don't want to eat it, that's fine by me, but if you end up starving, don't come crying back to us. Also, if I ever catch one of you nutcases stealing from the fresh-kill pile again, your dead, got that?"

There was a shuffle and a brown, almost reddish, tabby tom came into a life for a quick second before grabbing the rabbit and pulling it back into the shadows. Instantly, another cat moved, this time it was a ginger she-cat who moved towards where the tom had gotten.

When she also vanished into the shadows there was a screech as the she-cat seemed to pounce on the tom.

Leapfoot easily dropped down into the dark clearing and pulled the she-cat back violently with his teeth and threw her to the ground with a thump. Forestpaw finally got a good look at her. She was a small, skinny, ginger she-cat with pale, almost lifeless green eyes that didn't even really seem to see anything.

"If you wanted the rabbit, Foxfur, you should've got it first," growled Leapfoot, towering above her.

' _That's all prisoners get to eat?'_ Wondered Forestpaw, horrified.

Yellowpaw's face told the same story.

The ginger prisoner, apparently named Foxfur, seemed incapable of speaking, but it didn't stop her from snarling at Leapfoot. In a flash, the Soldier raked his claws across the she-cat's face, not even hesitating as blood began to pool from the wound.

"I may only be a middle-ranker," spat Leapfoot, "but I'm a higher rank than you, traitor."

"I don't give a mouse-tail about you and your petty little ranks," Foxfur growled in a tone that was surprisingly loud, "the resistance _will_ tear down the Glorious."

Leapfoot simply just let out another growl, striking the she-cat with his claws again before turning back to the two apprentices who were watching in some form of mute horror. "You two are guarding the entrance," he said, "I have other things to do."

And, as soon as they came, they had left, Forestpaw sparing one last look over his shoulder at Foxfur who, despite her status as a prisoner, looked very familiar.

* * *

 **A/N: That's another chapter finished, finally! What do you guys think? Any opinions on Ivyfall? What about the prisoners?**


	16. The Relative

**Chapter 14:**

Two days had passed since Forestpaw had been sent to work on the prisoner's den and, much to his relief, now he was back running normal patrols and gathering prey. As well as that, over the past three days, the high-ranking apprentices had been put to the test through multiple trials and were all beginning to look tired. On the one occasion, Forestpaw had managed to get into a short conversation with Willowpaw, she had simply told him that Shadepaw was easily the best out of the group of apprentices.

"I heard a rumour that she beat Ivyfall," exclaimed Jumppaw, jumping around the den.

"That's not true," Hollypaw snorted scornfully, "didn't you listen to what Willowpaw was saying? She said that Ivyfall beat Shadepaw, but not by much."

"If you ask me," began Lionpaw lazily from the back of the soldier's den, "it was obvious she was going to win in the first place. Shadepaw is absolutely mental when it comes to training. I heard she sneaks out of the den every night just to train."

"I heard that she never sleeps," Harepaw joined in.

Forestpaw flattened his ears and placed his head between his paws, exhausted. He wished the other apprentices would shut up for a few seconds, the rumour-mill was getting tiring and the past few days had been too busy to stay up all night just talking. Ever since the True Glorious had joined the camp, life had become more and busier and it was beginning to wear down on every cat, especially the soldiers. Not to mention, Forestpaw was already exhausted from the 'Shadepaw's life drama' which he had involuntarily become a part of. He supposed he was a traitor now and that made him feel slightly weird. He could still give away Shadepaw, tell Smokefoot she was secretly a spy but who would believe him? He was only a soldier.

Plus, he felt like Willowpaw would look at him differently if he betrayed them.

No, he couldn't betray Shadepaw.

Eventually, he managed to fall asleep and had a vivid dream in which he was outed as a traitor and dragged into the prisoner's den and then was mocked by Willowpaw, Hollypaw and Shadepaw who all laughed as he was torn limb by limb by hidden shadows.

He woke from the unsettling nightmare with a start, out of breath but more awake than he had ever been. Shaking his head, he glanced around, everyone else was asleep. Forestpaw attempted to calm down, forcing his shoulders to relax, but the dream had felt so real that he couldn't get it out of his mind. He needed a distraction.

Then, as if someone had been listening to his wish, he spotted Shadepaw padding across the camp. Figuring he had nothing to lose, he crept out of the den, watching as she slipped through the dirt place tunnel and out of the camp. Hesitantly, Forestpaw followed the dark tabby, curious to where she was going. He easily caught up to her on the moor.

"Shadepaw?" He said, getting her attention.

She didn't look back at him, "go away, Forestpaw."

He ignored her miserable attitude, "where are you going?"

"None of your business."

He was walking beside her, "I think it is my business. I'm too deep into all of this for it to 'not be my business.'"

Shadepaw gave him a pointed, green glare but, much to his surprise, he hardly flinched at the harsh look. Instead, he stubbornly puffed out his chest and glared straight back at her. She let out a heavy, over-dramatic sigh.

"Fine, I'm going to meet Emberpaw," she eventually told him.

His ears pricked up, curious, "why?"

"Because I'm a spy," she said a little too loudly, "remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," Forestpaw glanced around, "but why do you have to meet Emberpaw tonight?"

"She wants to know how the trials are going." Explained the she-cat off-handedly, "she wants me to win."

Forestpaw narrowed his eyes, "is that a good idea?" His tone was doubtful.

Shadepaw simply gave a nonchalant shrug, "Gorgestar wants a spy in the True Glorious. I doubt that would ever work and I'd probably get caught really quickly but there are other reasons I want to do it."

"Like what?"

She turned to him, green eyes piercing into his own amber pair, "think about it? What's the one thing I want most in the world."

"To kill Darkfall," Forestpaw kept on walking, "but is the way you're doing it even a good idea?"

"Probably not, but climbing higher in the ranks means one thing, I get closer to him, he's easier to kill."

Forestpaw suppressed a sigh. It was easy to forget that Shadepaw wasn't a great cat, she was murderous, vengeful, uncaring and, above all, surprisingly selfish. She didn't join the resistance to help them defeat The Glorious. It wasn't that she liked them, but she held little animosity towards the regime. No, she joined the resistance for one reason and one reason only.

"I have to kill him," Shadepaw went on as he was sucked into his thoughts, "he's evil, I'll be doing the world a favour."

And surprisingly delusional, Forestpaw realised once she said that statement. Convinced she was doing the world some good by murdering a cat, since when did Shadepaw care?

"But you're not killing Darkfall for the 'good of the world' or whatever," the tom pointed out, "you're killing him because you just want revenge."

She looked back at him.

"I might be a soldier but I'm not a complete idiot," he grumbled, "you're just a bit selfish, Shadepaw."

She took a moment to judge him, though her eyes showed little care.

"Maybe you're right," she said, "but Darkfall will be dead before I even become a full warrior," her voice was low, hissing, "remember that."

"And what about you?" Forestpaw asked.

"Me?" She turned away and walked ahead of him, her strides long, "I'll probably be dead too."

The lack of any fear or emotion in her voice made Forestpaw shiver.

* * *

Back inside Moor camp, in the Overseers den, were two cats, neither of whom were the actual Overseer of the camp. One was pacing from one end to the den to the other, deep in thought and bristling with undisguised frustration. The other cat was far calmer and observed the pacing tom through cool, amber, almost red, eyes.

"So?" Asked the amber-eyed tom, "what's on your mind, Darkfall."

The green-eyed tom stopped, looking back at Smokefoot, the Glorious Leader. "We've been stuck in this dirt-hole for almost a quarter moon now," he spat, "we've made no progress at all. Maybe our source was wrong, maybe we should have stayed in River camp."

"And continue eating fish all day?" Smokefoot wrinkled his nose but his eyes glittered, humoured, "neither of us wanted that."

"The rogue told us that the camp was just beyond the moor, maybe he's lying. We should've tried to get more information out of him."

"That won't work," The solid-grey tom pointed out, his tone neither angry or tired, just ever so slightly amused, "the rogue is dead."

"Four days we've been searching now, not even a trace."

"You told me that you scented Gorgestar, that's something, at least."

"Maybe," The tabby tom shook his head, "but we haven't gotten anything else out of that, have we? If he was one Moor camp territory, that can only mean one thing…"

"Ah, yes," Smokefoot pitch dropped slightly, "your fantasy spy. The spy you told me nothing about."

"I did," Darkfall's tone was more defensive, "it's a she-cat, most likely an apprentice."

"Really?" The dark grey tom moved towards the entrance of den, letting himself be silhouetted against the moonlight, blocking it from entering the den, "because I think there's something else you're not telling me, Darkfall, you've been agitated about something."

Those green eyes did not shift from Smokefoot, they pierced the leader's fur like claws, deadly and dangerous. Any other cat would've known to be afraid of this tom, and maybe Smokefoot should've been afraid, but he wasn't. He was the leader, after all.

The tabby looked away, choosing to glare at the wall of the den instead. Still, he said nothing.

"Well?" Prompted the leader, "are you not going to tell me? Your leader?"

Smokefoot didn't miss the way Darkfall's claws seemed to sheathe and unsheathe over and over, a habit of his.

Finally, he gave him, "the she-cat I met over the moor, the one I thought was a spy."

Smokefoot listened, "yes?"

"I think I know who she is," Darkfall looked back at him, "the mission, the one you sent me on a long time ago, just after the takeover, the one we thought was a failure…"

"What about it?" Asked Smokefoot, even though it was obvious he knew what he was talking about.

"We thought it was a failure," repeated the tabby, "but maybe it wasn't, maybe we were wrong."

"It was storming that night," pointed out the leader, "there's no way a two-moon old kit could survive."

"But maybe she did," Darkfall insisted, "That she-cat did _something_ that night. _Something_ we thought only I could do. Maybe we were wrong."

"And you think she's here? In this camp?"

"Let me watch over the Trials," Darkfall asked, "one of those apprentices could be her, I'm sure of it."

"You want to watch the trials?" Scoffed Smokefoot, "you've never cared before. Plus, let's say your far-fetched theory is right, how do you know if she's a high-ranker? She could be a soldier. Maybe she's just some random rogue. I can't give you up to watch over some silly Trials," Smokefoot shook his head, "your tracking skills are too good to give up."

Darkfall's eyes narrowed in some sort of anger mixed with frustration, "my tracking skills aren't getting us anywhere! If she's really in this camp, if she's really a spy, then we won't need 'tracking,' she'll know where the base is!"

Smokefoot's amused mood had vanished and was now looking at Darkfall through dangerous, amber eyes, "careful, Darkfall, you don't want to get too emotionally involved in this. If she is a spy, we'll have to kill her."

"Not if we can turn her," Darkfall said, not backing down, "just give me this chance. Get Whitefeather to help you track down the base, her skills are almost as good as mine."

After what felt like forever, Smokefoot got his paws.

"Very well, but be careful, Darkfall," his tone was bleak, "this she-cat, whoever she is, isn't Brightfeather. In fact, I reckon she might take after her father."

* * *

Shadepaw let out a loud yawn when she reached the meeting place, the trek had worn her down a little and couldn't wait to get back to sleep. The trials, whilst not too hard, had been wearing her down. Most of the time she had spent fighting and hunting and, whilst hunting definitely wasn't her strong point, she was easily defeating the rest when it came to battling.

"You took your time," scoffed a certain ginger she-cat, "and you brought a friend."

Forestpaw had been silent after their conversation, which was rare. In fact, Shadepaw had almost forgotten he was there.

"It's me," said Forestpaw.

Emberpaw looked at Shadepaw who shrugged.

"He hasn't betrayed us, plus…" she looked at Forestpaw, "I reckon he's trustworthy."

Forestpaw blinked, surprised, Shadepaw thought he was trustworthy.

"Gorgestar might disagree with you on that one," Emberpaw pointed out, though her tone was light-hearted, "but he doesn't need to know about him anyway. What he does want to know is how the trials are going."

"So far, so good, I reckon," said Shadepaw, "I'm beating the other apprentices."

Emberpaw's pale green eyes lit up, "really? Maybe this plan could actually work."

"What if it doesn't?" Asked Forestpaw, worried.

"Well, easy," the ginger she-cat shrugged, "we evacuate you."

"Evacuate?" Forestpaw prompted for her to go on.

"We take you to the resistance base, it's risky but we have to do it every time a spy is found out. If not, the consequences could be bad, not only for the spy but also the resistance. They torture you until you give them all the information they need, then they either kill you or make you prisoner."

"Jolly," remarked Shadepaw.

Forestpaw looked slightly more distressed by this fact, "how do you know that?"

"I've seen it happen before," Emberpaw's tone grew sad, "they're used to be a lot more spies in the Forest camp."

"How are you not caught?" Asked Forestpaw.

"It's complicated," sighed Emberpaw, "you sort of have to avoid attention, or cats get suspicious. I reckon some cats are already suspicious of me but, if they ever catch me, I won't tell them anything," she said it firmly, "I don't even know where the resistance base is located."

This definitely surprised Shadepaw, "you don't?"

"Of course not," Emberpaw scoffed, "spies are at the most risk of being caught. Even if one of them were ever discovered, the base location would be given away and that would be it for the resistance."

"That's smart," nodded Forestpaw.

"But, just you wait until I become a warrior, Stormpelt told me that he'll break me out of Forest camp and take me to the resistance base so I won't be stuck in that dirt hole anymore."

"Stormpelt?" Shadepaw was confused, "I never knew you two were close."

Emberpaw laughed, "of course we are, we'd have to be. He's my father."

Shadepaw was simply surprised whilst Forestpaw looked doubtful.

"Is he?" The tabby tom looked her up and down.

Shadepaw agreed. Whilst Stormpelt was a big, grey tom with thunderous blue eyes, Emberpaw was a straight-up, skinny ginger she-cat with slightly darker markings lining her back and face with glittering, pale green eyes. The two looked nothing alike.

"I know it's hard to tell," she shrugged, "I get my looks more off my mother than him, apparently."

Shadepaw tilted her head to the side, "I guess that makes us kin."

"It does?"

"Stormpelt's my mother's littermate, so, yeah, it does."

"He never told me that but, then again, Stormpelt never talks about his family," hummed Emberpaw thoughtfully, "that means I'm related to Brightfeather, that's pretty cool."

"Why is it cool?" Shadepaw was curious about her own mother, a she-cat she knew hardly anything about.

"Well…" Emberpaw trailed off, "she's like a hero. She betrayed The Glorious and was a spy even before the takeover. Apparently, she managed to warn all the leader's about the oncoming takeover. I don't think Gorgestar would have survived if it weren't for her. She's a hero!"

Shadepaw felt something she had never felt before. Pride. Pride for a cat that wasn't herself. Her memories of her mother were faded and distant, but she couldn't forget her soothing voice and soft smile, the way her blue eyes would sparkle in the moonlight and how her white and ginger fur seemed to glow in the dark. Without realising it, she had closed her eyes, cherishing the memory of a mother long-gone.

"Yeah, my mom was pretty great," she muttered softly.

Forestpaw looked at her, a surprising amount of concern in his amber eyes. Then again, he had probably never seen her so emotional before.

Emberpaw, however, seemed oblivious, "I wish I could remember my mom, but it's all a bit faded really."

Shadepaw snapped out of it, "is your mom dead?" The question was blunt but Emberpaw didn't flinch.

"No," Emberpaw's shoulders sagged, "much worse. I was born in Moor camp, originally Windclan, my mother was also a Windclan cat. She was scared before the takeover so she wanted to get me out of the camp so she gave me to my father who tried to get to the resistance camp but he was being followed, so he left me right outside the Forest camp before trying to fight off the Glorious cats who were tracking him. He beat them of course but there was no way he could come back for me. I spent the first six moons of my life not knowing my parents."

Forestpaw lay a comforting tail on the ginger she-cat's back who, Shadepaw guessed, had never really spoken about her past before.

"What about your mother?" Asked the tom.

"She's alive, I know it," Emberpaw said, "when I met Stormpelt, I asked what happened to her. According to him, she couldn't get away and was taken as a prisoner for refusing to bow to her new leaders."

Forestpaw, instantly, seemed to prick his ears up in recognition.

"That explains it…" He muttered to himself before raising his voice, "your mom, you said she looks almost exactly like you, right?"

Shadepaw watched him with interest.

"Yeah?" Emberpaw looked hopeful.

"Well, I was prisoner duty a couple of days ago and there was this she-cat prisoner, I thought she looked familiar but I couldn't put my paw on it. Was your mom's name Foxfur?"

Emberpaw lightened up, her eyes shining like a kit about to become an apprentice, "yes! Yes! That's her! Is she okay? Is she being treated badly?"

For a second, a flicker of sadness overcame Forestpaw's eyes. Emberpaw seemed to miss it, but Shadepaw didn't.

"She's surviving," said Forestpaw vaguely, "she's being treated just as well as a prisoner could be."

Emberpaw looked at him hopefully, "will you send her a message? Can you tell her that I'm safe?"

Without hesitation, the tabby tom nodded firmly. "Of course," he said, "I'll do it as soon as possible."

The ginger she-cat, now more lively than before, waved goodbye and wished the two apprentices goodnight before practically skipping back towards Forest camp. Shadepaw watched her go with amusement in her eyes before moving back down the hill, Forestpaw at her side.

"How is she, really?" The dark tabby she-cat asked.

"Who? Foxfur?"

Shadepaw nodded.

"Well…" Forestpaw looked at his paws as he walked, "she looked kinda crazy. She attacked another prisoner then got attacked by Leapfoot, he scratched her right across the face. It probably left a scar."

"Well, it was probably best if you didn't tell her that."

Forestpaw hummed in agreement. "What about Stormpelt being her father, that's kinda crazy, isn't it?"

"I suppose," Shadepaw looked at the sky, "I guess everyone's related," she added sarcastically.

Forestpaw chuckled, surprised that he was seemingly enjoying his time with Shadepaw.

"I wonder who my father is," Shadepaw was sucked deep into thought, "maybe he's dead too."

"Hey, don't think like that," he said sternly, "plus, you don't need a father. Stormpelt's your relative, he's a good cat, I reckon."

"Doesn't stop me from thinking about it," said Shadepaw, "but I suppose you're right. Anyway, it's not like I need-"

She stopped mid-sentence, her paws feeling stuck to the ground, her eyes wide with horror. Forestpaw beside her also stopped, but more out of confusion than any sort of shock.

"Shadepaw?" He said, "are you okay?"

"The tree," she said, looking at a completely bare tree which jutted awkwardly out of the ground, "the tree. I set it on fire."

"What?" Forestpaw was confused.

"I set it on fire," she repeated, "but it's still here."

The two looked at it, Shadepaw looking completely taken off guard.

"The tree didn't burn one bit."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the long chapter! Plus, it's really dialogue heavy and I would've shortened it, but I wanted to end it there because it feels natural. Anyway, school starts again tomorrow and updates might be up and down but I'd rather do this than do my homework anyway so… Besides that, the Foxfur mystery is solved. I wanted to get it out the way with real quick because there are too many weird things going on with this book. Plus, I think Emberpaw is a really interesting character who deserves a proper story.**

 **So, what did you think of this chapter? What about that whole scene with Darkfall and Smokefoot? What do you think that means? Not to mention, why do you think the tree didn't burn? Please leave your theories in the review section!**


	17. The Tracker

**Chapter 15:**

"What?" Forestpaw looked at her doubtfully, "you set a tree on fire?"

Shadepaw wasn't listening. Her expression had shifted from shocked to suspicious, her mind racing with thought. That night, when she was chasing Darkfall, had it all been some crazy dream? No, it hadn't. Willowpaw had been there, Forestpaw had been there. But then again, maybe she had imagined the tree setting on fire.

"This doesn't make any sense," she muttered, "Forestpaw, what happened after you got caught?"

"The other night?" He thought back to it, his face scrunched up in confusion, "uh, well they interrogated us for a bit but then Darkfall showed up and told us to go back to camp and that he needed to speak to Smokefoot."

"Was he acting weird?"

"Yeah, he looked really excited but also angry about something."

"Crap," she swore under her breath, "Okay, okay, let's just go back to camp."

She began to walk, strides long, fur bristling with anxiety and frustration. Nothing made sense, she had no answers for any of this and that was really putting her on edge. It was difficult to keep face when all these confusing things were happening, it was difficult to keep cool with everything going on. She scuffed the ground as she walked, stopping through the long grass as she headed back to camp.

"Slow down!" Yelled Forestpaw, hurrying to keep up with her, "are you okay? Or are you going crazy? Why have you been setting trees on fire? What's going on?"

"I don't know," she snapped, "I don't know anything!"

"Hey," he growled back, "I asked for answers, not attitude!"

"I don't know," She repeated firmly, "okay, I don't know what's going on anymore. All this Glorious and resistance stuff is messing with my head."

"Maybe you should get more sleep."

"Yeah, thanks for the advice," she said, not sounding thankful at all.

"Look, I'm just saying is that you're acting weird," he told her, "which is saying something because you act weird all the time. But now, you're talking about trees setting on fire or something. I think you just need to calm down and get your head together."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she wasn't in the mood to talk, "let's just go home."

He stopped, but she didn't. She felt the tom glaring at her back but she didn't look back, she just couldn't be bothered to look back at him. She continued to stride back towards the camp, leaving him behind. When she reached it, she jumped back down into the clearing and strode into the apprentice's den, settling down into her nest, but she didn't fall asleep.

* * *

"Are you awake?" Asked a voice.

"Obviously," said Shadepaw with a lot more scorn than she had originally intended.

"Alright, alright, no need to get moody on me," Willowpaw said with a sigh, "I just wanted to know if you wanted to share this with me."

Shadepaw didn't even lift his head, her eyes just shifted to the side to look at the fat rabbit at Willowpaw's feet. "I'm fine," she muttered, "Not hungry."

"Fine," The silver she-cat rolled her eyes and dug into the rabbit, "you came back late last night, were you doing some spy thing?"

"Hey!" Shadepaw shushed her, "keep your voice down! And yes, I did."

"And was that what put you in a bad mood?"

"I'm not in a bad mood," she growled.

Willowpaw looked at her doubtfully, "sure, whatever you say."

That sat in silence for a bit, Shadepaw glaring at the wall through dark eyes. She had been up all night, her mind racing for answers and logic but got nothing. It was almost like her mind was broken but that didn't make sense here, Shadepaw wasn't broken she was Shadepaw. It was day now, sunlight streaming through the den. Despite the bright weather, the ground was covered in frost, the air was frozen and Shadepaw could see her own breath. Leaf-bare was just around the corner now, which was never a good time for cats in moor camp, especially soldiers who didn't eat enough any time of the year.

As she was staring, Forestpaw walked into her line of vision, talking to the black Soldier apprentice, Hollypaw. He glanced at Shadepaw but quickly looked away, not daring to make eye contact for too long. The dark tabby let out a small, quiet sigh and glared at the door like it had done her wrong. Then, the steady stream of light coming into the entrance of the den was blocked off by a figure.

"Ow!" Exclaimed Sootpaw, who had just been trod on in the head.

Wavewatcher ignored this, "rise and shine, mouse-brains, it's time to get moving."

Shadepaw pushed herself to her feet, Willowpaw discarding her rabbit after sending a long, last, wishful glance towards it. Whirlpaw and Sparrowpaw left the den first, the two chortling over a joke they'd made between themselves as though they were the only two toms in the world. Willowpaw padded over to Sootpaw, helping to his feet with a slight laugh at his expense before they both left the den leaving Shadepaw on her own. The dark tabby looked back at the rabbit with a disgusted look before giving it a forceful kick in the ribs before following the others outside, catching up to Willowpaw.

"Where're we going?" she asked.

"High-hill, apparently," answered the silver she-cat."

"Again?"

"Yep," Willowpaw turned to look at her, "I guess it's another trial."

"Probably."

"I'm sick and tired of these things," interjected Sootpaw, "why does it even matter? All we ever do is beat each other up. I'm not sure how that proves we're 'worthy' or something."

"You're only complaining because you're terrible at it," pointed out Willowpaw, though her eyes glittered with amusement.

"I'm not terrible."

"You so are, even Sparrowpaw's beating you."

"Only slightly. Plus, I'm doing better than Whirlpaw."

"Yeah," Scoffed Shadepaw, "but that's not saying much is it?"

The three made light conversation as they walked towards high-hill and, despite what happened last night, Shadepaw almost relaxed slightly, letting her shoulders. The sun shone down on the moors and, whilst it did little to warm up the ground, it began to melt the frost under its glare whilst a light, but chilly, a breeze swept through the tall grass, making the apprentices shiver. She narrowed her eyes at the sun which stared straight back at her with an equal amount of intensity, she looked away, choosing to glare at her own paws instead.

Maybe she just needed to chill out a little. This whole 'trial' thing was messing with her head. Maybe the tree hadn't really set on fire, maybe had just mixed up a dream with a memory. Maybe Forestpaw was right, she did need more sleep. She was a spy now, she needed to concentrate, relax, blend in and calm down, just like she was before this whole resistance mess began.

So, they reached the top of the hill and waited for today's trial; joined by the usual trio of Ivyfall, Woodenfoot and Whitefeather. She sat in between Sootpaw and Willowpaw, face remaining neutral and calm.

"Right," Ivyfall began once they were ready, "this trial is gonna be a little different from the others but probably one of the most important ones yet. Tracking is a key skill, probably more necessary than fighting or hunting. If you can track down anything, use your senses to find something, then you could do _anything_."

Ivyfall, as per usual, was giving everything a dramatic flare whilst having the usual, smug, superior smirk on her face.

"So, here's your task. There's a random piece of prey lying somewhere on this moor, you'll know it when you see it. Your job is to track it down."

"Track it down!" Exclaimed Whirlpaw in his painfully loud voice that annoyed Shadepaw constantly, "how are we supposed to do that?"

Ivyfall rolled her eyes and sighed, "figure it out using that 'big' brain of yours."

Whirlpaw opened his mouth before closing it again, looking dumbfounded as Shadepaw watched on in distant amusement.

"Well," Ivyfall shrugged, "of you go then. First one to find it wins."

Then, the three True Glorious cats walked off, laughing to one another about a joke that Shadepaw couldn't care less about. The other apprentices seemed to be milling around in confusion and she frowned in thought, trying to figure out how to track prey when she didn't know what she was tracking.

She walked to the edge of high-hill, looking down the steep slope and took a moment to glance at the surroundings. Nothing much was going on, the grass still stood tall and the breeze blew gently through the never-ending moors. But there was something weird in the air. Quite literally. Floating through the sky was a curious brown feather coming towards high-hill.

Shadepaw glanced behind her. Sparrowpaw and Whirlpaw were arguing about how to find the prey whilst Sootpaw and Willowpaw had seemingly gone to find it. Shadepaw looked back at the feather which had stopped at the base of the hill, caught on a rock. She glanced upwards. If the feather was coming from that direction, could it be the prey she was supposed to find? It was a bit of a leap of logic but was the only solid thing she had so far.

Cautiously, she made her way down the hillside and began to walk towards the tall grass, walking towards the wind. As it was blowing towards her, she would know if she was getting closer if she could smell it.

And so she trekked through the moors, keeping an eye on the area around her for any other hints of prey anywhere.

And there it was, that slight but distinct smell that stuck out from the usual scent of grass and dirt that usually plagued the moors. It was a heavy, but subtle, scent of some sort of bird that, whilst familiar, Shadepaw struggled to recognise. Either way, she guessed that it was probably what she was supposed to be looking for and felt uneasy for some reason.

It almost felt too easy to be able to complete the trial this quickly. Shadepaw was confident in her own abilities, but she knew that she shouldn't have been able to find the prey so quickly. It just felt _wrong_. Or even scripted, like it was supposed to happen.

But, against her better judgment, she continued to follow the scent anyway, grimacing as the heavy stench of dead bird got stronger and stronger as she neared the prey.

And then she burst from the long grass into a small clearing and found the bird.

But this wasn't the first thing she noticed, the fact that there was a large, dead hawk lying on the ground took her surprisingly long time to notice because she was staring at something, or someone, else.

She had burst into the clearing without even checking to make sure it was safe first, which was a bad decision on her behalf. A very bad decision.

She froze up, claws threatening to unsheathe, body wanting to attack. Her limbs felt strangely stiff, unmovable and unnaturally, as though they shouldn't be attached to her. It almost took all of her willpower to not turn and run.

Then, in one second, it was over. She calmed herself again and, whilst her insides were in turmoil, she looked completely passive, indifferent. Then, she turned to face him.

Darkfall.

The tom who had killed her mother.

Was standing right in front of her.

* * *

 **A/N: Dun! Dun! Dun!**

 **So, I am** _ **finally**_ **going to write the confrontation between the two and boy am I looking forward to it!**

 **I'm back at school and I might be able to get another chapter over this weekend but I'm not sure.**

 **Anyway, expect an update before next Friday (maybe).**


	18. The Murderer

**Chapter 16:**

Forestpaw felt a strange twinge run through his body as he looked into the den, was Emberpaw's mother really that prisoner, Foxfur? It was a strange thought, and not one he was exactly comfortable with.

"Are you coming?" Snapped Hollypaw behind him, sounding impatient.

He turned back to look at her, "Yeah, I am, no need to be so rude."

She snorted and trotted away, strides long, as though she were desperate to get away from him. He sighed, she'd been like this all morning, it was like he was dealing with Shadepaw. Speaking of the dark she-cat, he wondered how she was doing, after their strange conversation the other night after meeting with Emberpaw, he was kind of worried.

And there she was, sitting in the shadows of the high-rank apprentice's den, her green eyes glaring at him from the darkness. He looked away, not bothering to pay much attention to her when she was in such a mood.

"Hurry up!" Yelled Hollypaw, still impatient.

Forestpaw rolled his eyes and sighed over-dramatically, padding to keep up with his den-mate.

"What's with you today?" He asked, "you're so snappy."

"I'm not snappy," snapped Hollypaw, "I'm tired."

Forestpaw gave her a doubtful look, the black she-cat did not look tired at all. Her eyes were glittering with frustration but were still vivid and bright, they did not look tired. Her fur too was well smoothed down and she was walking along at a quick pace, evidently awake.

"So what if you're tired?" He said, "it's not an excuse to be rude."

"I'm not rude," she argued back, but was deflated, "I'm just annoyed."

"Annoyed at what?" Forestpaw tried to catch her eye, but the Soldier apprentice was looking ahead, not daring to meet his eye. That's when he realised. "You're annoyed at me?"

"Maybe," she muttered.

He blinked, what had he done wrong this time? He couldn't remember.

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter," she sighed.

The two reached the entrance of the camp, where both of their mentors and a few high-rankers, were waiting for them. Gooseglare, Forestpaw's mentor, nodded to him and the patrol got moving.

"It doesn't matter?" He repeated Hollypaw's words, "obviously it matters. You can't say you're annoyed at me and not say why."

"It doesn't matter," she said again, glaring at him for a couple of seconds before looking away in an attempt to shut him up.

But he wasn't having it, "no, Hollypaw, you've got to tell me what's bothering you!"

"You wanna know what's bothering me?" She suddenly snapped, "you and Shadepaw are bothering me, that's who."

"What?" Forestpaw froze, confused by her sudden outburst, "Shadepaw?"

"Yeah, you and Shadepaw, and Willowpaw too, come to think about it."

"What? Why are we annoying you?"

"Because" she spoke to him as though he were a kit, "they seem to be the only cats you ever talk to. Don't think I haven't noticed, you've been sneaking out of camp almost every night, one night you even got caught sneaking out with Willowpaw! A high-ranker. I know there's nothing going on between you, I know there's something fishy going on and I know it's got something to do with Shadepaw, am I wrong?"

The tabby tom opened his mouth and then closed it, before opening it again and closing it again. He couldn't find the right words to say because Hollypaw had practically figured it out.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he lied, "you're crazy."

"I'm not crazy," Hollypaw spat, "I'm just _not_ stupid. And neither are you, but here you are, involved in some kind of mess."

"Look, we're just friends."

"So are we!" She protested, "and Shadepaw isn't any cat's friend, and I wouldn't want to be her friend. She's a fox-hearted she-cat who only cares about herself. For heaven's sake, she doesn't even care about Willowpaw, a cat who is practically her sister!"

"You don't know Shadepaw," snapped Forestpaw.

"You're right, maybe I don't. But she comes off as being the most self-absorbed high-ranker in this whole camp. If you want to be friends with her, fine." She glared at him, "just don't expect me to stay friends with you."

And Forestpaw watched, with an aching heart, as one of his friends walked away from him.

* * *

"So, if it isn't the famed Shadepaw," said the dark-furred tom smoothly, "the apprentice who has won every single trial yet."

She eyed him warily, but not with any kind of emotion that would provoke suspicion or doubt, just with the same amount of wariness that any normal cat would have in this situation. On the inside, she was holding herself back from lunging at him, not only knowing what a stupid decision it would be, but also because she didn't want to blow her cover yet. Although, she was pretty sure that he had figured out her secret already.

"Zat is her," said Whitefeather, who Shadepaw had only just noticed was there, "and she haz won yet another trial. Congratulations."

Shadepaw's eyes reluctantly shifted over to Whitefeather and gave a fake nod of thanks, her body still feeling the eyes of Darkfall watching her.

The white she-cat seemed intrigued by the two of them, perhaps she knew, or perhaps she could sense the history between them. Either way, she looked upon the two with intense, undisguised, curiosity.

"Yes," said Darkfall, "congratulations. How did you track it down?" He gestured to the hawk.

"I followed the feather," was her short reply.

He hummed, as though expecting this response, "they mentioned you were the strong silent type, a favourable personality trait," he looked at her closely, "but also a suspicious one."

Shadepaw didn't ask him to elaborate on what he meant.

After a couple more seconds of intense silence, Darkfall looked over to Whitefeather, who was still watching the two with inquisitiveness. "Whitefeather, go find the other apprentices, I would like a word with Shadepaw."

Shadepaw seized up on the inside but did her best not to show her sudden panic.

"Sure," shrugged the she-cat, accent still thick, "I'll see you back at camp."

She padded into the long grass, vanishing from sight as her fur became virtually impossible to see in the thick undergrowth.

Shadepaw turned back to Darkfall, who was still watching her with deep curiosity but gave away no signs of aggressiveness. Somehow, this unsettled her more. He began to pace, not in any kind of direction, but just up and down.

"So," he began slowly, taking time over the word as though relishing in how it sounded, "little Shadepaw, it's been a while."

She didn't say anything, but her eyes followed his movements.

"What?" He said, standing still, "not even a 'hello,' or have you forgotten me already."

' _Don't let him win,'_ she told herself, ' _but don't do anything stupid either.'_

"I don't know what you're talking about," came her dry, emotionless reply.

He chuckled, an unsettling sound, "you're clever, little Shadepaw, and a good liar too. If I were stupid, I would think you were telling the truth, but, unfortunately for you, I know that you know exactly what I'm talking about."

It was 'give up' or 'keep going,' and Shadepaw wasn't sure which one was the better choice. But, at this point, there seemed little point in pretending, her emotions were on the verge of collapsing and she was about three seconds from a complete breakdown, which was something she hadn't experienced since she was a kit. She had no power in this situation, no control.

"Are you going to kill me?" She asked, voice flat.

He looked at her, head tilted, "are you going to kill me?"

"Yes," came her unwavering response.

"No," he said, "I'm not going to kill you, I don't want to kill you."

"That's not the attitude you had when you murdered my mother."

"Brightfeather gave me no choice," he said, but there was an eerie smirk on his face as he said it, "she was disposable anyway."

Shadepaw growled, the first sign of emotion, "she was my mother."

Darkfall hardly looked intimidated by the apprentice, "I've been told the story about how you ended up in Moor Camp, of all places, it's interesting."

She didn't say anything, dark fur bristling as she tracked his every movement, body tense and ready to defend or attack, just in case.

"A lost kit found half-dead on the moors, claims she's a kit of a rogue whose parents were murdered by a badger, gets accepted into the camp by a high-ranking mother who lost most of her litter minus one she-kit. So, little Shadekit becomes a high-ranker and lives a lie, how was that for you?"

"That's the story," muttered Shadepaw, "and I was happy to stick to it."

Darkfall regarded her for another moment, "you were smart for not telling them who you really were, they would've handed you over to me the second they worked it out."

"I wasn't a smart kit, I just wasn't a dumb one either."

"Oh, little Shadepaw, you're oh so intelligent," he mocked, "but then you made the mistake of competing in the trials, trying to win. Did you think I wouldn't figure who you are?"

Shadepaw kept her mouth shut, Darkfall may have figured out who she was, but she wasn't going to let him know that she was really working for the resistance.

"Nothing to say?" He tutted when she didn't respond, "you make my job so difficult."

Still, she said nothing, her icy glare remaining fixed on him.

He moved to closer to her, she flinched away.

"Or are you just scared of me?" He tilted his head to the side and inspected her closely.

"I'm not scared," she snapped back at him, "I'm not scared of _anything_. And I'm especially not scared of you!"

He scoffed, "why should I believe you?"

She looked him steadily in his green, poison-coloured eyes, "I am not scared of you," she repeated.

Darkfall laughed, that empty, cold laugh. "See, I think you are. I think you're terrified of me."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off.

"Last time we met, you were two moons old and I had just killed your mother," he watched her carefully as he spoke, as though expecting her to dart off at any moment, "I'd be very surprised if you weren't scared of me."

She remained steady, though she could feel her tail twitching, "I'm not scared of you. I just want to kill you."

She would use to be able to scare other cats when she said words like that, accompanied with a murderous look that would pierce the hearts of most. But Darkfall just laughed, a laugh that grated on her nerves and only helped the anger build in her mind.

"You can't kill me," he told her simply, "even if you wanted to, you wouldn't be able to kill me."

"It's all I've ever wanted."

"That's not a healthy motivation for an apprentice to have," his voice was mocking, "it's also not particularly healthy for an apprentice to be sneaking around at night, talking to members of the resistance, want to explain?"

Had he really figured that much out? Or was he just working with a theory? Shadepaw wasn't ready to sell out the resistance, but she also wasn't prepared to die for their cause. Unlike most members, she cared very little for the cause of the resistance, only her own end goal, killing Darkfall.

"What are you talking about?" She feigned confusion. If there was one thing she was good at, it was lying.

"I've been smelling Gorgestar's stink on our territory," he snarled, "not to mention, a few other resistance scum. And, call me crazy, well I feel like you're involved with all this somehow."

"I'm not involved with the resistance," was her only response, "why would I need to be?"

He leaned back slightly, scanning her up and down, assessing her.

"Do you know who Stormpelt is?"

For one, horrible moment, Shadepaw thought that she had suddenly given herself away. She felt a plunging fear at the mention of Stormpelt, how would Darkfall know who he was? Had he met him before the takeover? Or was he just a pretty notorious member of the resistance.

"No, who is he?" She asked.

He looked at her cautiously, "your mother's brother, I wondered whether he'd gone looking for you yet."

"What would you do if you saw him? Kill him?"

"Obviously."

"You'll kill him, you've already killed my mother," she said, angrily, "why won't you kill me?"

"You're important."

"That's vague," she snorted, "you ever gonna tell me anything?"

"I'll tell you why I killed your mother," he said, looking down at her, "or do you not want to hear that?"

Shadepaw didn't say anything.

"Are you too scared to learn the truth? Too scared to know that your mother was a liar, traitor and a coward, who didn't even care about the resistance, and couldn't even defend her own clan or her own kit."

"You're lying," she said, "you're lying."

"Am I?" He spat, "because I certainly knew Brightfeather for a longer time than you did."

"And who's fault is that?"

"It's her own fault," Darkfall shook his head, "she brought in on herself, the lying piece of-"

His words were cut off by Shadepaw suddenly lunging at him, her claws unsheathed and her teeth bared. She hadn't even realised she was going to do before she had actually done it, she struggled to even comprehend her actions before she felt herself being pinned to the floor, looking the murderer right in the eye.

"Don't mess with me, Shadepaw," Darkfall growled, "I might not want to kill you, but I can make you, and all your precious little friends hurt, understand me?"

She narrowed her eyes, "you don't scare me."

"Well then you are much more stupid than I realised," he said, "now run off, go back to camp. If you're not back by nightfall, I'll presume you're a traitor and find you and hurt you. Understand?"

She glared at him. He dug his claws in.

"Do you _understand_?" He repeated.

She hesitated.

"Yes," she said, defeated.

He let her up and she jumped back to her paws, moving back from him, putting the distance between them.

"You're just gonna let me go?" She asked, cautious.

"Oh, no," He shook his head, "I'm not letting you go, anytime soon, little Shadepaw, you're a member of the Glorious, so you're stuck with me. My advice, go back to camp, go about your normal life. Just know one thing, we aren't done here."

She wanted to stand up for herself, she wanted to stand there and argue.

She wanted to kill him.

But, instead, she did the sensible thing.

She turned tail and ran.

* * *

 **A/N: haha, sorry. I haven't updated in like a month. Some personal stuff came up. I went through a bad time at the end of the month, but I'm doing better now**. **I'm doing stuff to improve my personal confidence as well as being more physically active, and it was working but now I have tonsillitis. Anyway, I can't promise consistent updates.**

 **I hope someone's still reading this dumb story, haha.**


	19. The Friend

**Chapter 17:**

Shadepaw came barreling into camp just past midday, whilst Forestpaw was dawdling around camp, not having any other duties for the rest of the day. He looked up when the dark furred she-cat came in, causing more of a ruckus than she had obviously intended to. After getting a few disgruntled glaces from the cats she had disturbed, she straightened herself up and padded towards the apprentice den, yet even the most mouse-brained kit could tell that something had agitated her.

Her pelt was prickling with obvious annoyance, her eyes narrowed into slits, darting around every couple of seconds, as though she were expecting any cat to jump at her at any moment. Even her claws were unsheathed, ready for attack.

Forestpaw pondered this for a moment; Shadepaw was the last high-ranking apprentice to arrive back into camp, hadn't they just had a trial? What had gotten her so antsy?

He got to his paws and padded over to her.

"What?" She snapped before he had even said anything.

"I was just coming to check if you were okay," he said, "no offence, but you look awful."

"Thanks," was her only response, "but I'm fine."

"Really?" He said doubtfully, watching her plonk herself down at the floor, glaring at nothing in particular.

"I'm fine, now go away," she spat at him.

Forestpaw gave her a wary glance, looked around, and turned back to her, "did something happen in the trial? Did you lose or something?"

Shadepaw glanced up at him, looking him in the eye. Forestpaw almost physically jolted back at the expression in her eye. It was terrifying, like someone had lit a literal fire behind her pupils and it was raging in her body. She was completely ready to kill someone, Forestpaw strongly believed she would if she got the chance, and the look almost made him want to run away.

Forestpaw realised.

"Did you see _him_?" He asked.

Shadepaw looked grim, lowering her voice to a whisper, "I need you to go to this meeting tonight. I was supposed to meet up with Gorgestar and Stormpelt, but I don't think I can do it."

"Gorgestar?" Repeated Forestpaw, "the big daddy of the resistance?"

"You need to tell him I need help, if he doesn't understand then at least Stormpelt will." Shadepaw looked up at him, "you know how much I hate saying it, but I really need your help."

"I'll do it," said Forestpaw, with little hesitation.

"Thank you," said Shadepaw, "I'll pay you back for this, promise."

Forestpaw laughed, "I don't need anything in return."

She frowned, suspicious, "why not?"

He sighed, she could be really dumb sometimes. "We're friends, duh!"

"We are?"

He rolled his eyes, "whatever, I'll do it."

"Okay," she glanced around, the anxiety obvious in her eyes, "thanks."

With that, she stood up and walked into the apprentice den, the conversations she had just had with Forestpaw quickly fading from her mind as she entered the den, her brain too busy to concentrate on anything at a given time.

"What did she want?" Asked Hollypaw from behind Forestpaw, making him jump.

He swivelled around, "oh? I thought you weren't talking to me."

"Call it morbid curiosity," the black she-cat shrugged, "I want to know what mess you're getting yourself into this time."

"Whatever, Hollypaw," He snorted, "whatever's going on in my life is none of your business."

"Isn't it?" She narrowed her eyes, "because Smokefoot is staying in our camp right now. And I'm sure he'll love to hear all about your meeting with Gorgestar, the _leader of the resistance_!"

He blinked.

"So you were eavesdropping," he scoffed, "so much for privacy."

"You shouldn't hold secrets from The Glorious."

"Oh yeah? You don't know the kind of evil stuff they do."

"You might want to lower your voice, traitor, does the prisoner den look comfortable to you?"

"Go on then," he flicked his ears towards the leader's den, "tell them all about how I'm a traitor."

He was placing a lot of faith in the hope she wouldn't do it, because it was a really dumb thing to say to a she-cat who he wasn't on the best of terms with right now.

She glanced at the overseer's den, where Smokefoot was staying, but didn't budge.

"Exactly," he said after a minute of neither of them doing anything, "why even threaten me if your not gonna carry out your promises."

"Because," she suddenly snapped loudly before lowering her voice, "because I hate seeing you risk everything for a fox-hearted she-cat like Shadepaw."

He sighed, "I know it seems crazy, and she is super selfish, but if you knew the kinda crap she went through, you'd want to help her too."

"Well," Hollypaw looked away, slightly calmer but more tired than she had been moments ago, "if you're willing to risk everything for a high-ranker, then go ahead. I don't even want to know, okay?"

"Okay," he said, feeling ever-so-slightly disappointed that his oldest friend wouldn't be able to get involved in this mess. Then again, it was probably better if she stayed out of it.

"Look, you're my friend, one of my best friends. And I hate seeing you getting involved in all of whatever this is. But go ahead, it's none of my business, I guess. Just don't die."

"Is this you forgiving me?"

"Yeah," she laughed slightly, "I guess it is in some weird way. I got to go anyway, mentor wants me."

And she was gone before Forestpaw could even say the words "see you."

Then he thought about for a little bit.

' _I wasn't even the one who started this argument,'_ he realised, ' _she was the one who got pissed at me out of the blue this morning. Why do I need her forgiveness."_

But he already had enough on his paws, so he let it slide.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Asked Willowpaw when she walked into the den.

' _No,'_ was the word Shadepaw was about to say but didn't. Sootpaw was half asleep in his nest, but still awake enough to hear most things going on around him. Whirlpaw and Sparrowpaw were talking in the corner, and both looked up when Shadepaw walked in.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Was her short reply.

"You look ill," states Willowpaw, peering at her closely, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm sure, Willowpaw," she snapped, "just tired."

"Aww," cooed Whirlpaw from the other side of the den, "is little Shadepaw feeling poorly?"

The mocking tone reminded her of Darkfall, and she felt a borderline uncontrollable urge to claw his ears off.

"Yeah," scoffed Sparrowpaw, "cheating on every single trial is one way for a she-cat to feel ill."

"Cheating?" Repeated Willowpaw incredulously, "are you serious?"

"Put your mind to it, Willowpaw," said Sparrowpaw nonchalantly, "she's one almost every single one so far. That seems a little dumb to me."

"Maybe you can't accept that she's better than you," Willowpaw defended her friend, and that your just some saddo who gets off from lying about others."

Sparrowpaw looked dumbfounded at the gentle she-cat's harsh words.

"Can't the cheater speak for herself?" Whirlpaw interrupted, "does she have an alibi for being a bit, fat, cheating liar?"

"Yeah, does she?" Sparrowpaw got his cool back.

"I'm sure-" Willowpaw began, but was interrupted.

"Let the she-cat speak, or is she just too brain-dead?" Whirlpaw laughed like he was the funniest cat in the world.

"The only brain-dead cat in this den is you, Whirlpaw," Shadepaw said slyly, "but that's not an answer to your concern, is it?"

The two aggressive toms blinked but said nothing.

"Here's my answer," she began, "I'm just better than both of you, sorry. I wouldn't even dream of cheating in the trials, you know why?"

They exchanged glances and shook their heads.

Shadepaw looked at them, enjoying the power she had over them.

"Because I don't care," she laughed, the only one laughing, "I could not give less of a shit. They don't matter to me, so why would I risk my pelt and cheat on them? That's a dumb thing to do, and I'm not dumb."

"You're just saying that," growled Whirlpaw, "you're just some sad, lonely rogue."

"Yeah, a rogue that could claw your ears off at any moment."

He glared at her, "you don't scare me?"

"Really?" She spat at him, realising that they had somehow moved so they were face to face, "because I would be very scared of me. The only thing keeping me from clawing your pelt off is the fact that I have too much to deal with right now."

"Oh yeah?" He said, "go deal with it then. Or don't. Because you're all bark and no bite."

"You wanna see me bite? How about I bite your neck open?"

"Uh-huh, go ahead then."

"You think I wouldn't do it?"

"I know you won't."

Whirlpaw was really pushing her buttons right now, and her claws had been itching for a fight, a distraction from the real issues. But she didn't want to screw up, he wasn't worth it and she was in too much trouble right now to be dealing with this.

"He's not worth the hassle, Shadepaw," said Willowpaw, "let's just go."

Shadepaw about to go, leave the den, turn her back on these morons.

"See," muttered Whirlpaw to Sparrowpaw, "all she does is talk, talk, talk. That's the reason parents are dead, because they were just as useless as she was."

Something inside her just _snapped_.

Moons upon moons of pent-up aggression and issues kept locked up in her mind were suddenly released, spilling out onto the floor for the world to see.

She couldn't _take it anymore_!

It wasn't _fair_! What had she done to deserve all this?

Nothing. None of it was her fault.

Her mother was dead, not her fault.

The murderer currently had her trapped in camp, not her fault.

She was having constant nightmares, not her fault.

She was alone.

 _Not her fault_.

Unfair! Unfair! Unfair!

Instead of crying or walking away or breaking down or collapsing. She did something that wasn't very smart.

She turned around and lunged at Whirlpaw.

In front of every cat in that den.

In front of every cat in that camp.

All watching in horror as the seemingly unbreakable was broken.

All whilst Darkfall watched on.

And revelled in joy at the destruction he had caused.

* * *

 **A/N: That got a little darker than I intended it too. Whoops, haha. Yeah, I feel really bad for Shadepaw, she just really needs a break from all of this.**


	20. The Illusion

**Chapter 18:**

Shadepaw felt someone pulling her off of him and she tried to pull away. Whoever it was seemed to easily stronger and older than her, and she had little chance of escaping. So, she was pulled off of Whirlpaw and was thrown to the floor with a 'thump.'

"What the hell was that?" Snapped Shadowfur, her mentor, looking down at her with disgust.

"It was me attacking Whirlpaw, that's what it was," Shadepaw said with such a large amount of disrespect in her voice that Shadowfur seemed shocked.

"What is wrong with you?" The older she-cat was outraged but Shadepaw wasn't in the mood.

"What's wrong with me?" She growled back, "how about you ask what's wrong with him!" She jutted her head towards Whirlpaw, "he's the one who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. I gave him several chances to close that yapping gob of his. But then he thought it was smart to go insult _my_ family."

"That gives you no right to attack him!" She said back, "haven't I taught you any self-control?"

"Self-control?" Shadepaw felt the anger bubbling back up, "you think I have no self-control? How dare you? You have no idea the amount of self-control I've had to have over the past six moons or seven moons of my life. None of you do!" She snapped that last part at the onlookers.

"What are you talking about?" Shadowfur just looked confused.

"Exactly," the apprentice turned her back to her mentor and shot one last comment over her shoulder, "what _am_ I talking about?"

"Hey!" Shadowfur shouted, "don't walk away from this!"

But the apprentice had already left the camp, consequences be damned. The moment she had stepped out onto open moor she had started running and didn't stop. Darkfall had told her not to leave camp. Screw him, he wasn't important. She had gone back to camp, she just wasn't planning on sticking around. Where was she going? She didn't know.

It wasn't the first time Shadepaw had ran from her problems, but it was definitely the first time she had ever had a problem this bad. She had never felt this pure, _empty_ terror ever before. Not even when her mother died did she feel like this, this aching in her gut. Maybe back then she didn't realise how unfair it all was.

Now she did.

She had stopped running, she only just noticed that. She was also now standing at the shore of the lake, looking out at the fairly placid waters in front of her. How peaceful. She didn't feel peaceful.

"Mom?" She said aloud without realising, "you believed in Starclan, didn't you? That's why you went to the moon pool, to talk to them." She laughed to herself, I guess you drowned in your own beliefs. Sorry, that's not funny."

Shadepaw glances around herself, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"If there were a Starclan, wouldn't they have done something already?" She looked at the sky, "are you really up there, mom? Or is that just a nice thought."

Nothing. No whisper in the wind or ripple in the lake. Only the never-ending sounds of nature. Shadepaw laughed again.

"I guess it is just a nice thought," Shadepaw said, "to think dead cats go somewhere when they die, that dead cats don't stay dead. But that's one fat lie. I'm not talking to my mother. I'm talking to myself."

She was shaking. She didn't know why, but she was.

"I miss you, mom," she said to the emptiness, "and it's so unfair. Every part of it is so unfair. I can't _do anything_. I'm trying but that murderer is too clever. I thought I was smart, but he's just smarter. He knows how to get to me. He knows something, when I'm around him, strange things happen. It's happened twice now. With the fire. Do you know, mom?"

Still no reply.

"Who is he?" She asked the emptiness again, "why does he know so much about me? Why does he care? I know he's killed a lot more cats than just you, but then why does he remember you? Why does he remember me?"

Shadepaw looked at her paws, sighing loudly.

"I hate him, I always knew that. But, I guess I didn't realise _how_ much I hated him. Oh God, I really hate him, it's so uncontrollable. I'm scared and angry at the same. I want to run away and rip his throat out at the same time, you know what I mean."

Nothing. Still quiet.

"Who am I kidding? I'm just talking to myself." But even though she had just admitted to herself, she continued the one-sided conversation herself. "I wish he were here right now. I wish Darkfall were here right now, and I wish I could rip his throat out. That would be great, that's all I want."

Suddenly, he was there. From nowhere. He had just popped into existence only a few tail-lengths away from her, standing completely still in the shallows of the lake.

Instantly, she lunged at him, but just ended up face-planting on the sandy water bed, and she came back up, coughing and spluttering. She turned around, but Darkfall had not moved. He was still just standing there. Had she aimed her jump really poorly?

Confused, she approached Darkfall and placed a paw on him. Except it wasn't really _on_ him, more like through him.

Her paw dazed through his body, which then flickered and vanished. The illusion had vanished.

"I'm doing that," she realised, "like when I set the tree on fire. I'm creating illusions, that's why the tree didn't burn."

A small part of her mind felt happy, another part of the mystery solved. Did Darkfall have these powers too? Probably, that was a far less happy thought.

But, she had just made a replica illusion of Darkfall appear. She wondered if she could do it with another cat.

"I want to see my mom," she whispered to herself, "please…"

But no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't work. She felt confused, it had worked with Darkfall, why not with Brightfeather.

She tried a different cat, she pictures Emberpaw in her mind, and tried to make her appear in front of her.

It worked and, a few moments later, an accurate replica of the ginger apprentice appeared. If that worked, why didn't Brightfeather's illusion work?

She tried it with several other cats, it worked for them. But it still wouldn't work for Brightfeather, why not? Shadepaw just wanted to see her mother, even if she was only an illusion, a fake, didn't she deserve that at the least?

Then, with a jolt. She realised why it didn't work.

Shadepaw almost broke down.

"I can't even remember what my own mother looked like," she said to Willowpaw, who had been watching everything unfold for the past few minutes, "God, that's so depressing."

"Shadepaw…" the silver she-cat tried to find words of comfort, but none came.

"Maybe I should go jump in the lake," the dark apprentice said with an unsettling chuckle, "maybe then if there is a Starclan, I could see my mom."

"Please don't die."

"I won't." She said firmly, "at least, not until Darkfall is dead at my own claws."

"He's looking for you," Willowpaw said, not sounding happy about it, "he found the fight interesting. He wants to find you."

"And find you I did," came his voice from nearby, "You two seem very close, could almost mistake you for littermates."

Willowpaw looked at Shadepaw, but the green eyes she-cat had her eyes closed and her head raised to the sky. It broke her heart to see her best friend like this, she seemed so _empty_ , so _broken_. It was awful to see, if all cats, _Shadepaw_ like this.

"That was an interesting show you put on there, Little Shadepaw," Darkfall said, still atop the slope, "making little illusions appear. Impressive."

"I can't remember my mother," said Shadepaw, eyes still closed, "you killed her when I was two moons old, everything I try to picture her, it's blurry."

That's why her eyes were closed, realised Willowpaw, she was trying to make her mother appear. Willowpaw didn't really understand how that worked but didn't feel like it was the place to question it.

"How about this?" Darkfall tilted his head to the size.

Willowpaw turned around to see a beautiful, sleek, white-furred she-cat covered in ginger splotches standing nearby, her mesmerising, kind blue eyes looking at Shadepaw. Did Darkfall have the same ability that Shadepaw had, that was strange… what even was the ability? It made no sense.

Shadepaw turned to look at her, or it, and shook her head, "it's not the same when you do it. Maybe you should create an illusion of her drowning, that would probably hold more sentimental value to you."

Willowpaw was shocked at how calm Shadepaw was and couldn't help but feel like she was intruding on something.

"Drowning your mother wasn't an enjoyable feat," Darkfall snorted approaching his own illusion, "it was a necessity. I had no choice."

"Is that what you say to help you sleep at night?" Asked Shadepaw, but her tone held little anger or scorn. In fact, it held no emotion at all.

"She doesn't look like you," Willowpaw said suddenly.

Shadepaw and Darkfall both looked at her, almost as though they had forgotten she was there.

"No, she doesn't," said Shadepaw, "guess I get my looks of my father, whoever that is."

Much to her own surprise and horror, Willowpaw figured out very, _very_ quickly. And the small, secret smirk on Darkfall's face that appeared after Shadepaw had said it practically confirmed the theory.

"Oh, no," murmured Willowpaw, "Oh, no. Oh, no."

The dark grey tabby she-cat looked away from the Brightfeather replicant and frowned, "what?"

The dark grey tabby tom did not look away, but his smug smirk only grew wider.

Of course! Of course! It made so much, horrifying sense. It was the only explanation.

"I'm sorry, Shadepaw," the silver she-cat shook her head, "I only just figured it out."

"What are you talking about?" Emotion returned to the she-cat's voice, but it was only confusion.

"Am I wrong?" Willowpaw looked at Darkfall who said nothing. "Am I _wrong_?" She repeated it.

He grinned, "no."

Willowpaw turned back to the thoroughly confused Shadepaw, "Shadepaw he's… oh, God- he's your-"

"Spit it out, Willowpaw," said Shadepaw, tone snappy and impatient.

"He's your father," she said suddenly, "Darkfall is- Oh, God."

"What?" Whispered Shadepaw, despite understanding it perfectly.

And it made so much sense as well. It made too much sense.

Her mom…

Darkfall.

The murderer.

The tom she hated most.

Her _father_.

"I shouldn't exist," whispered Shadepaw, "I'm the daughter of a monster."

"A little overdramatic, don't you think?" Darkfall was as sly and cocky as ever, but he wasn't exactly rushing to deny it.

The illusion of her mother vanished as Darkfall took a step closer to her. She didn't move or react, her eyes were fixed on the floor.

No.

No.

No!

"My mother…" but she trailed off

"Yeah, not as great as a she-cat as you thought she was," he laughed, but it was empty, "you'd be surprised at the things she's done."

' _It's a lie'_ thought Shadepaw, ' _or maybe I'm dreaming. Starclan, if you are real, then please wake me up now.'_

But it wasn't. It was the whole, horrific truth.

"Now that the family reunion is over," Darkfall interrupted her thoughts, "I think it's time you returned to camp."

He wasn't looking at Willowpaw as he said it, but she knew he was asking her to do the same as well. She moved so she could silently slink away, but paused when she noticed that Shadepaw wasn't moving, she was standing completely still and was glaring straight at Darkfall with a murderous look on her face.

"No," she said.

He looked down at her, "who do you think you are?"

"I know _exactly_ who I am," she hissed at him, "but I don't think you know who you are, do you?"

He grinned down at her, more amused than anything else then, "tell me then, little Shadepaw, what don't I know?"

"You're a murderer, that's a fact you seem to forget a lot," she watched him carefully as he edged closer, "you might be an important cat to The Glorious, but that's a lie and you know it. You're nothing but a worthless, murderous monster."

"And what does that make you?" He said, "the daughter of a worthless, murderous monster?"

"Maybe," she snarled, "but I'm better than you'll ever be."

"Really?" He tilted his head to the side, "because I'm a fully trained warrior who is the next in line to take the mantle of the leader of The Glorious, the leader of an empire. And what are you? Some traumatised apprentice who doesn't know how to keep her emotions in check."

She growled, "I know how to control my emotions, I've been doing it for the past six moons."

"Really? Because the way you leapt on that tom in camp a few minutes ago says otherwise."

"Whatever," was her only retort, "I'm not going back to camp. Especially not with you," she sneered at him.

"Fine then," he took a step closer so he practically towered over her, "run away then. I'll give you a day's head start. Then you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to hunt you down until I find you, and I will find you. Then, I'll drag you back to Moor camp by the ear if I have to. Then, if you're still not ready to listen to me or do what I say, I'll beat you senseless."

"No, you won't," she said but doubted herself as the words left her mouth.

He laughed, that empty laugh, "I drowned your mother right in front of you, and you still doubt me."

She looked up at him, trying not to give away her fear.

"If I run, you won't find me."

"Even if I couldn't, you'd come running back anyway."

"I wouldn't, there's nothing that would make me come back."

"Really?" Darkfall's eyes flickered back to Willowpaw, causing Shadepaw's heart to drop in realisation.

"Don't hurt her," she said.

"Then go back to camp, now, and stop wasting my time," he hissed, "I'm your father, you'll do exactly what I say, all the time. And if you don't? Well…" He drawled, "we'll deal with that when the time comes, won't we? Do you understand me, little Shadepaw, or do I need to reiterate?"

"No," she deadpanned, "I understand."

But, in her mind, a plan was forming. A plan that was her last hope.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm not overly satisfied with this chapter but whatever, I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things with this story. I saw Black Panther the other day, and it was amazing! If you haven't seen it yet, you totally should!**


	21. The Plan

**Chapter 19:**

Forestpaw hadn't spoken to either Willowpaw or Shadepaw after the battle, though he had watched Shadepaw's fight from afar. It had been the hot gossip in the Soldier apprentice's den since it had occurred just after sun-high. Every cat wanted to know what Whirlpaw had said to make the she-cat lash out at him.

"I don't know what he said," Sootpaw had shrugged when they asked him, "I was falling asleep when it happened, all the noise woke me up."

So, no answer out of him. Forestpaw and Hollypaw had gone to Sparrowpaw next, who had been very dismissive of the lower-ranks, before finally coming around and telling them.

"He wasn't doing anything wrong," Sparrowpaw had said, "he was only calling her out from the cheating liar she was."

Every soldier knew better than to trust him, so they weren't to Whirlpaw instead, who had an answer that was equally unbelievable.

"It was crazy!" The not-really-injured tom had said when they talked to him inside the medicine den, with an overdramatic sigh, "I'm not sure what I did to get on her bad side. She just lashed out at me…"

It was a lie and every cat knew it. So, they were just waiting to see Willowpaw, the possibly only reliable source. But, when she had come back, she had snapped at the soldiers, telling them to leave her alone before walking off agitated. The soldiers had also been tempted to ask Shadepaw, but were quickly scared off by the brooding look on her face, and were scared that she was going to attack them as well.

Then, just before midnight, the chatter began to die down as cats slowly fell to sleep.

"What do you think happened?" Murmured Hollypaw sleepily, the only two awake in the den, "what do you think Whirlpaw said?"

"Something stupid, as usual," he snorted.

"Be a bit more specific."

"Well," he thought about it, "I doubt Shadepaw would get offended over some insult he had said to her. Sure, she'd be annoyed, but definitely wouldn't have attacked him. He probably said something about her family or Willowpaw."

"Yeah, that's an interesting theory," though Hollypaw sounded far too tired to actually be interested.

"What do you think?" He asked softly.

A few moments later and he realised that the black she-cat had drifted off into sleep. Forestpaw stood up his nest, careful not to rustle the ground too loudly or create noise as he stepped over his sleeping denmates.

The moon was covered tonight. Clouds obscured the glowing orb from view as the slight taste of rain in the air drifted towards the tom. He sighed, feeling slightly annoyed. Then, he got moving, double checking the camp for any watching eyes. Once assured that he was definitely alone in the camp, he exited the camp, diving into the long grass heading towards the moonpool.

Now that he came to think about it, he didn't really know where the moonpool was. Sure, he knew the general direction, but it wasn't like he had ever been there. Starclan was forbidden, so the moonpool had no use. Come to think about it, it was a great meeting spot for resistance members. A place where no Glorious cat would dare to go because, if they were caught, they would likely be caught and sentenced to be a prisoner for daring to worship Starclan. So, no one was ever there.

As he snuck through the long grass, he couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to Shadepaw, the she-cat had obviously come face-to-face with Darkfall and, from the sounds of it, was in real trouble. No, Forestpaw had to help her, she was his friend. What would Gorgestar even do? He couldn't think up of a solution to the problem other than running away from Moor camp, and Forestpaw doubted that would go well.

He reached the stream that divided Moor camp area and Forest camp area and turned to follow it upstream. He was fairly certain that the water flowed down from the Moonpool at the top of the hill, a long walk for a young apprentice, but he was prepared to take it on anyway.

It was strange, before all of this he would've never imagined even talking to Shadepaw, let alone going to meet with the resistance leader for her. He wasn't sure whether the sudden development in their relationship was out of a genuine likeness for each other, or that Forestpaw just felt a little bit bad for Shadepaw and all she'd been through. He doubted that she'd like the second option. Shadepaw would hate to be pitied.

He also couldn't believe that there was a time when he had thought Darkfall was a likeable cat. Now, whenever he looked at the tom, Forestpaw could hardly contain the seething amount of hatred he felt towards him on Shadepaw's behalf. It wasn't like Darkfall had even done anything that directly affected him, he just knew the truth, he was a murderer. And, if he hated Darkfall that much, he couldn't imagine how much Shadepaw hated him.

As he reached the top of the path, he noticed a narrow path littered with ancient paw prints and a strange, religious feeling swam through him. As he followed the path, he noticed it led to a small stone hollow. On one side, there was a steep stone cliff with water flowing out from a cleft, feeding into the pool below. On the other side, the path let to a small stone beach right beside the pool.

Suddenly, the moon emerged behind the clouds and Forestpaw could only gape at the moonpool as it lit up with the glow of both starlight and moonlight, clearly reflecting it, bathing the hollow in a warm, welcoming, white luminance.

With a strange amount of reverence for the starry hollow, Forestpaw gently trod down to the stone beach, approaching the pool, all thoughts of Gorgestar and Stormpelt gone from his mind. He looked into the pool, peering at his own, tabby reflection which blotted out the light from the stars behind him. Then, as his eyes began to blur, he could've sworn he saw the ghostly outline of cats standing beside him.

He snapped back around to see no one there. He narrowed his eyes, confused.

Then, the tabby was snapped out of his thoughts by paw steps.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Said Stormpelt, walking down the path, a hint of bitterness in his voice, "we found my sister's body here. She'd been drowned in that pool."

Forestpaw glanced at it nervously, "Shadepaw told me."

"Speaking of which, where is Shadepaw?" The much older tom asked, "Emberpaw told me I could trust you, but I still need to decide that for myself."

"She sent me to give you a message," he said, "Darkfall, he knows her."

"I told you the she-cat was a burden," said Gorgestar, suddenly appearing beside Stormpelt, "she draws too much attention to herself. Useless to the resistance."

Stormpelt only rolled his eyes whilst Forestpaw just looked angered.

"Do you even know what you're talking about?" Snapped the apprentice, "my friend is in danger and you're calling her useless, how dare you?"

Gorgestar hardly reacted at the tom's outburst.

"Emberpaw told us that Shadepaw was climbing the ranks and was close to becoming a True Glorious," stated Stormpelt in a much calmer tone that Forestpaw. "It was a stupid idea to try and become one, but she was doing it on our behalf. She knew that, if she wanted to help the resistance, become a True Glorious spy would be her best opportunity. You gotta commend her courage."

"Courage is for those who want to tell themselves their failure is brave," came Gorgestar's short reply, "you knew for a fact, Stormpelt, the risk we were getting into when you invited _her_ of all cats to join us."

"She had the ambition."

"She had selfish desires to kill Darkfall," the leader shook his head, "she cared not for the resistance."

"She did!" Interrupted Forestpaw, "just because her reasonings were selfish, doesn't mean she like the Glorious. In fact, she hates them and wants to see them fall."

"And what about you?" Gorgestar looked at him, "why are you so willing to risk everything for a friend?"

"Because she deserves someone being there for her," argued Forestpaw, "she's been alone her whole life. It's destroying her! You have to help!"

"With what?" Gorgestar sneered, "you want us to waltz into camp and beat everyone up for the sake of your _friend,_ you're gonna need to be a little smarter than that."

"I'm not asking you to do that!" He cried, slightly appalled by the leader's behaviour, "I-" he tried to think, "Shadepaw and I just need a way out of Moor camp to your base. We can't stay there."

"Why should we help you?"

"Because," Forestpaw racked his brain for a reason, "If you don't, their gonna start asking questions, and Shadepaw could easily betray all of you if pushed to that point."

Forestpaw left the threat hanging there, hoping it would work.

Stormpelt, who had remained fairly silent, sent a curious glance in Gorgestar's direction who seemed to be looking down at the apprentice with the usual amount of apathy. But, he also looked to be inwardly debating with himself, Stormpelt could practically hear the cogs turning in his head as his leader thought.

"I'll send Emberpaw to meet you tomorrow night at moonhigh," Gorgestar said finally, "if you're not there, then we'll presume you're dead. If you're not dead, we'll come kill you ourselves."

Forestpaw swallowed a nervous lump in his throat, "really?"

"Yes, really," the tom said sharply, "you'll be free to escape to the resistance hideout. However, you will still have to participate in missions for us. Call it payment."

"Right, right," nodded Forestpaw firmly, "I understand."

"Now, run on back to camp," Gorgestar flicked his half-tail, "and remember," he leaned in, "tomorrow, moonhigh."

The tabby tom felt an overwhelming sense of relief. It had worked! He had been somewhat worried about going back to camp with no results and having to tell Shadepaw. He had been worried he wasn't going to sway an intimidating and notorious tom like Gorgestar. However, the amber eyes apprentice reckoned that the resistance leader still didn't like him much.

Without another word, Gorgestar turned around and strode off with the sort of eloquence and fierceness that only he could achieve. Meanwhile, Stormpelt turned to him.

Forestpaw cut him off before he could say anything, "are you really Emberpaw's father?"

Stormpelt looked at him curiously, "I am."

"You know her mother's kept prisoner in Moor camp, right?"

"I'm aware."

"Do you even care?"

Stormpelt blinked, "of course I care. I just can't do anything about it."

"You just don't sound like you care, that's all," Forestpaw didn't mean for his tone to be so accusatory, but it came out like that anyway. "Why can't you just take Emberpaw to resistance base camp with you?" He asked, "she is your daughter."

"She was more interested in spying, plus…" he drifted off, "they probably know who her parents are, they'd get suspicious if she suddenly just vanished."

Forestpaw remained wary, "is that just an excuse?"

The grey tom turned his gaze onto him but looked more tired than angry. "Don't you have to get back to camp."

Forestpaw turned to walk away before stopping, "she really cares about you, y'know? Emberpaw, I mean."

He heard a sigh, "I know."

Then, Forestpaw began the trek back to Moor camp, ready to tell Shadepaw the good news.

* * *

 **A/N: I don't like this chapter but whatever. I just wanted to get it up.**


	22. The Escape

**Chapter 20:**

Shadepaw had been glaring at her paws in the corner of the camp when Forestpaw had finally shown up again. She had heard him coming, though his footsteps had been quieter than they usually were, which was saying something.

When she heard him, she looked up and scanned the camp. It was late, almost everyone was fast asleep. There were two guards at the front entrance of the camp watching her warily, but she reckoned that was only because they had seen her attack Whirlpaw earlier that day. Though, she couldn't shake the feeling that they had been ordered to watch her, in case she did anything suspicious. But that was probably her own mind playing tricks on her.

"Shadepaw?" Said Forestpaw, approaching her.

Shadepaw threw one last glance over her shoulder to glare at the soldiers before hiding her herself behind a large boulder, where Forestpaw was standing.

"How did it go?" She asked, voice hardly a whisper.

"Good," he nodded, "tomorrow night. Moonhigh. We're meeting Emberpaw."

"Okay, where?"

"Where you usually meet Emberpaw," shrugged Forestpaw, "from there, I think she's leading us to the base. Or, at least, someone who can lead us to the base."

"And what about you?"

"I'm coming too," said Forestpaw, as if it were obvious, "if I stick around this place any longer, my head might blow off. Not to mention, it doesn't take much for a cat to figure out I'm involved with you."

Shadepaw did not have the motivation or the energy to argue with him. In fact, she agreed with him.

"You'll be leaving everything behind," pointed out Shadepaw.

"Yeah, I'd be leaving behind the life of a Soldier," pointed out Forestpaw, "I'm not missing out on much."

Shadepaw glanced over at the High-rank apprentice den, "I'll tell Willowpaw."

Forestpaw looked at her, "Shadepaw, what happened with-"

"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped before lowering her voice, "not here, anyway."

"But-"

"I'm just gonna go to sleep," she interrupted, "only one more day left in this hell-hole."

* * *

"You're leaving?"

"Be quiet," the dark-furred she-cat hissed, "but, yes, I'm leaving."

Willowpaw did not look happy about it, "that's probably not a good idea."

"I don't have much choice here, do I?" Shadepaw said, "It's either leave or stay stuck in this damn camp for the rest of my life. I'll kill Darkfall in some other way, but I can't stay, Willowpaw."

It was around sun-high, there were no trials today so the high-rank apprentices had been left to hunt or mill around camp. Shadepaw had not been pleased with this. For the entire day, she had had to deal with cats staring at her when she wasn't facing them. Cats talking about her when they thought she wasn't listening. Usually, she cared very little for what those around her thought of her but she had been on edge all day, and the gossiping wasn't helping.

Whirlpaw had been fine but had spent the morning exaggerating the entire story, accusing Shadepaw of being a crazed rogue. Cats had asked for her side of the story, but she had ignored them, leaving Willowpaw to give a hasty rundown on what actually happened.

"Well, then I'm coming with you," the silver she-cat said firmly.

"What, no."

"Are you kidding, Shadepaw?" She rolled her eyes, "if you go through with this plan and you run away, you'd be an idiot to think that Darkfall wouldn't try to get you back. And he's not an idiot either, so he knows that he could use me to get you back."

"Fine, fine," the grey tabby sighed, "but this is risky. You've never met Emberpaw, so I don't know whether she would trust you or not."

"So what? I'm gonna go anyway, doesn't matter what they think of mine. What time are we going?"

"We have to meet Emberpaw at moonhigh, so just try not to drain all your energy today."

"I won't," Willowpaw sighed, looking around camp, "not like there's anything happening anyway.

"Oh?" Said a voice behind them, "they're still letting you walk around? I figured they would've locked you up in the Prisoner's den by now."

"Go away, Whirlpaw," said Willowpaw, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, and her 'bestie' is here too," Sparrowpaw also appeared, "what are you gonna do? Speak on Shadepaw's behalf because she's too dumb to do it herself? Can't you tell that she doesn't even care about you?"

"Honestly, Sparrowpaw," Shadepaw began, "If you think that I make Willowpaw do everything for me, look at your friend's ripped ear, I think that would tell you otherwise."

Whirlpaw flicked the injured ear and shot the she-cat a glare, "you're just some crazy rogue. You attacked me for no reason! Ever heard of self-control?"

"If you were smart and just kept your fat mouth shut then I wouldn't have attacked you."

"I am smart," insisted the tom, "and completely sane, unlike you."

"You can call me crazy all you want, Whirlpaw," she said, "but just remember that this 'crazy rogue' managed to nearly tear your ear off. And I could do a lot more if I was given the chance."

"Are you threatening me?"

"What if I am?"

Whirlpaw snorted, flicking his tail, "I could beat you in a fight any day."

"Wanna bet on that?" Shadepaw hissed back but the silver tom was too stubborn to back down.

"We'll do it tomorrow then," the tom hissed, "at dawn, we'll prove who's really in charge."

"You sure you don't want to do it earlier?" Asked Shadepaw.

"Tomorrow," repeated Whirlpaw, "if you don't show up, I'll just presume you wussed out."

With that, both Whirlpaw and Sparrowpaw walked away, tails swinging from side to side as they laughed obnoxiously between themselves at a joke that was probably wasn't very funny. Beside her, Shadepaw could feel Willowpaw fixing her with a questioning look.

"Why did you agree to do it?" Asked the silver she-cat, "you'll be gone by then."

Shadepaw shrugged, "it'd be suspicious if I hadn't agreed." She yawned, standing up straight, "I don't want to let anyone catch onto the fact we're running away tonight. Especially not Sparrowpaw and Whirlpaw." She said their names with disgust laced in her tone.

"Okay," said Willowpaw warily, "how long do you think it will take them to figure out that we're gone?"

"Probably just before dawn," estimated Shadepaw, "either Whirlpaw will be the first to notice, or whoever is sent to wake us up. Either way, it won't take long for Darkfall to connect the disappearances of you and I. And Forestpaw too, though I imagine they'll be less worried about a missing soldier." She shook her head. "It doesn't really matter when they do find out. As long as we're not stupid enough to alert anyone to the fact that we're running away, we should be okay."

Willowpaw still didn't look convinced but didn't argue any further. "And you're sure this will work."

"No," said Shadepaw, "but it's the best plan we've got."

* * *

When night finally fell, Shadepaw noticed that the nerves of it all we're beginning to get to Willowpaw. The fact that the apprentices had been stuck in camp all day wasn't helping either. Whilst Shadepaw had managed to remain perfectly calm, Willowpaw hadn't been doing the best job at disguising how antsy she felt. She would sutter and stumble over her words when someone other than Forestpaw or Shadepaw talked to her. She would avoid the eyes of any other high-rankers. And she definitely was getting a lot more snappy with Sparrowpaw and Whirlpaw, who had done nothing but bug them all day.

But, as moon-high grew closer and the camp fell asleep, she relaxed. Shadepaw was also beginning to feel a little more confident in this plan, almost hopeful. The air was completely still and a dark fog lay across the moor, making tracking a lot more difficult. The sky was impossibly dark too; thick, grey clouds were blotting out the moon, allowing very little light to reach the ground. Yet, there was still that lingering dread at the back of her heart that Shadepaw did her very best to push out but to no avail.

"Willowpaw," she whispered, nudging her friend awake, "we have to go."

"I was dozing," muttered the silver she-cat sleepily, turning her head to face to look at Shadepaw, "I wasn't asleep."

"Sure you weren't," she said, "but we have to go."

Shadepaw was already stood up, looking around to make sure everyone else in the den was asleep. Sootpaw was completely out of it, his body strewn lazily across his nest with a paw lying on his rising and falling stomach. Whirlpaw was also fully asleep, breathing out soft, persistent snores through his mouth that agitated the feathers lying just in front of him. Sparrowpaw, whilst asleep, was a lot more twitchy, repeatedly rolling over to mutter something before letting out a heavy snort.

Shadepaw remained hopeful that they would stay asleep.

Willowpaw got to her paws and did her best to wake herself up before following Shadepaw out of the den. She narrowed her green eyes, looking around camp. Then, slowly, she made her way over to the dirtplace, Willowpaw following.

"Good, you're already here," said Shadepaw when she saw Forestpaw, "ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," said the tom with a deep sigh, "let's go."

The three got moving and Shadepaw was almost entirely certain that that section of the plan had gone off without a hitch. She wasn't positive on whether it would remain that way.

The three made their way through the long grass, careful not to cause too much ruckus, but were also as quiet as possible. The moor was hauntingly still at this time of night in this weather, meaning any sound or slight creak in the undergrowth were enough to put all three cats on edge. But, Shadepaw could see no signs that they were being followed, so she kept walking.

They finally made it to a small clearing in the long grass to where Emberpaw was. The ginger she-cat looked happy to see them, though the expression fell when she saw Willowpaw.

"Who's that?" She asked.

"I'm Willowpaw," she said, perfectly capable of answering herself, "and you're Emberpaw, the spy, I presume."

"You'd be right," said the ginger she-cat, "I'm guessing you're coming with us."

Willowpaw nodded, her eyes defiant as though she were challenging Emberpaw to turn her away.

The ginger she-cat didn't seem overly fussed. "Do you trust her?" The question was directed towards Forestpaw and Shadepaw.

"Yeah," said Shadepaw at the same time Forestpaw went, "yup."

Emberpaw blinked before nodding to herself and getting onto her paws, yellow-green eyes glistening in the dim moonlight. "Alright then, guys, let's get moving. We're meeting Gorgestar and Stormpelt just beyond the Moonpool."

As the four moved in complete silence, the continuous quiet of the usually windy moors increased Shadepaw's paranoia. The only sounds that could be heard were the noises of their paws hitting the floor and pelts brushing lightly against the grass, accompanied with Emberpaw's soft curses every time she tripped over something, which was an occurrence that happened quite often.

Shadepaw noticed that they were reaching the cross into Fire Camp territory and were pulling away from the long grass. Now, the soft hiss of a stream could be heard in the distance. A sound that would be loud enough to cover the sound of a slight shuffle.

At least, it would be to most cats.

Shadepaw froze when she heard the unmistakable sound of a paw adjusting itself on the grass.

"What?" Said Emberpaw, noticing she'd stopped, "what is it?"

"They knew we left camp," said Shadepaw, "they're following us."


	23. The Loss

**Chapter 21:**

"They knew we left camp," Shadepaw said, "they're following us."

The words hung there in the air for a couple of seconds as silence fell upon the group of apprentices. Slowly, stiffly and shocked, each one turned to face her. Willowpaw's face was awash with fear, her body didn't move naturally and every action seemed forced. Forestpaw had his claws unsheathed and the hair on the back of his neck stuck straight up. Emberpaw was looking at Shadepaw, expression turned into a frown, though no other emotions were given away.

Then, a cold laughter interrupted the silence.

"Very clever, Shadepaw," came the honey-smooth voice of Ivyfall, "you take more off your father than you're willing to admit."

Shadepaw turned around to see the beautiful, sleek-furred, tabby brown she-cat emerge from the darkness, her amber eyes glistening in the moonlight. Behind her, several other faceless soldiers and high-rankers appeared, each completely detached as they stared at the ragtag group.

' _Outnumbered,'_ noted Shadepaw, throwing a cautionary glance back at Emberpaw, who nodded back at her.

"Sadly, he couldn't be here right now," the she-cat continued, "but I'm sure he's on his way. When he gets here, you can explain all this to him."

"I won't have to," Shadepaw said, voice laced with a dangerous venom, "I'll be long gone by then, and I'll make sure you'll be dead."

Ivyfall didn't seem fazed by the threat, "you're sound so sure of yourself. But why risk it all? I see you have friends here. Come back quietly and we can deal with this in a-" she looked for the right word, "more peaceful manner."

"You mean surrender," Shadepaw moved to a defensive stance, "give up. Hand ourselves over to the enemy. I'm not going to lose to you," her tone was filled with disgust as she spat the word 'you' out like it was poison. "I'd rather die."

Ivyfall tilted her head to the side, looking at her. "Sorry to disappoint," she said, "but you don't get a say in the matter."

Shadepaw didn't miss the way the she-cat twitched her tail. Nor did she miss the way the soldiers moved into a battle formation. The rest of the apprentices must have noticed too because all of them dropped into low crouches.

"You don't expect to win this, do you?" Ivyfall's voice was critical.

' _I need to at least get Willowpaw and Forestpaw out of here,'_ thought Shadepaw, ' _if we fight, it's the perfect opportunity to let them slip away.'_

"Well, I don't expect to lose this either," she snarled back.

Chaos broke loose. Shadepaw had seen the command, given by Ivyfall by the slight twitch in her ear, and had been prepared for it. When the first tom leapt for her, she easily slid underneath him and clipped the back of his hind legs with her claws, causing him to cry out in pain. She then landed a swift, but heavy, kick to the back of his head in the moment of distraction, landing it hard enough so he was promptly knocked out.

The next cat that came for her was a blur of ginger fur that knocked her on her belly. The she-cat who had attacked stood in front of her, giving Shadepaw the chance to jump back up and grab the attacker's leg with her teeth, biting hard and tugging her so she fell to the ground.

Another cat came at her and Shadepaw felt her movements become slower as exhaustion wore down on her. These were fully trained adult cats and, whilst she was stronger than the average apprentice, she was still an apprentice.

Then she remembered.

Shadepaw had one advantage in this battle.

' _Time to test out these powers,'_ she thought to herself, doing the first plan that came to her mind.

Suddenly, a large fire sprung up around the clearing where the fight was taking place and everyone froze. Shadepaw took the opportunity to glance around to take in the scene. She estimated she had a good few seconds until the fight started back up again.

Willowpaw looked like she was easily the most injured, half her ear was done off and had drenched half her face in blood, she had a nasty gash along the side of her flank, along with a bite on her tail. She was standing, looking at the wall of fire before turning to Shadepaw, having figured it out.

Forestpaw had not, and was frozen in awe, watching the flames flicker. He was standing on top of a smaller soldier that had stopped struggling. He didn't seem to be doing too bad, apart from his chest which was littered with red, claw marks, but were not deep enough to get worried about.

Emberpaw was still in action, throwing a tom off of her. Her ginger fur hardly had a scrape on it, and her green eyes were glimmering with rage as she ignored the fire and leapt at a tom who was distracted.

Ivyfall, who had been moving towards Shadepaw, had stopped.

"You're doing this," she whispered, "aren't you?"

Shadepaw realised that, whilst most of these cats figured it wasn't real, they weren't any less terrified.

"I've seen Darkfall perform tricks like this," Ivyfall continued, "you're more like him than you want to believe."

Shadepaw disagreed with that and forced the flames to come closer and closer to them until every cat was packed tightly in a circle, unwilling to touch the illusion of fire. Ivyfall turned to Shadepaw, claw raised above her head.

Using all her energy, Shadepaw condensed the flame into a tiny ball and expanded it. Now, instead of flames, thick, grey smoke covered the area, blinding most. Shadepaw had the ability to see through her own illusion, and sprinted towards Willowpaw, pulling her out of the smoke by the scruff.

"You need to get out of here," she said, before the silver she-cat could say anything else, "they'll kill you if they get you."

"Not without you," Willowpaw said, voice high-pitched.

"Yes, without me," she snapped back, "I can hold them off, Emberpaw and Forestpaw will be behind you. They won't kill me, Darkfall won't let them."

Shadepaw was unsure of that statement, so was Willowpaw.

"But-"

"Go!" She yelled, "I can't hold the damn illusion much longer."

"I don't-"

"Just beyond the moonpool," interrupted Emberpaw, who had suddenly appeared to answer the question that Willowpaw hadn't had the chance to ask. "Travel uphill until you reach a lavender field. You'll find Stormpelt there."

"I-"

"Go!" Yelled Emberpaw and Shadepaw at the same time.

Surrendering, Willowpaw sprinted off into the distance. Emberpaw turned to Shadepaw.

"Not a chance," the ginger she-cat shook her head, "I'm fighting. For the resistance. You can't turn me away."

"You could die," Shadepaw stated plainly.

Emberpaw's eyes were overcome with a mindless determination, "so be it."

Shadepaw, no longer being able to hold the illusion, let the smoke clear. They were visible now. Several cats came streaming towards them, whilst a few hung back to recover from their confusion.

Shadepaw pushed through the madness, swiping left and right at attackers, tackling cats that came too close and raking her sharp claws at anyone in her way. Through the chaos, she found Forestpaw, and hauled the she-cat he was fighting off of him.

"Willowpaw has gone that way," she said, jutting her head towards the trees, "follow her. She knows where to go."

"What about you guys?" He asked whilst dodging an oncoming cat.

"Don't worry," she said, shoving him in the right direction, "just go!"

Forestpaw was a blessing and argued no further. He sprinted off in the said direction and out of sight, leaving Shadepaw and Emberpaw to fend for themselves.

' _Love you, mom,'_ was the only thing Shadepaw could think of as attacks came in from all directions.

She was pretty sure she had blinded a tom with her defensive swipes, but was backing up from the crowding attackers, unable to handle them. Then, an opening. Seizing the opportunity, she ducked under their snapping teeth and striking claws. Running and sliding until she reached a small space where she could breathe for two seconds.

Then, Ivyfall approached.

She was panting, but didn't look too badly injured.

"You will lose," said the brown tabby, swiping her claws, "you and your foolish resistance."

Shadepaw did her best to dodge the oncoming attacks, but struggled under the crushing burden of fatigue that weighed down on her like a boulder.

"But you underestimate the importance of blood," the she-cat hissed, "your father is a powerful cat. You could become just as powerful, if you joined us."

Shadepaw stumbled backwards, "never."

"You will get _nowhere_ with your petty revenge plot, you hear me?" She growled, "It's fruitless, Shadepaw. You're a strong she-cat, with powers that are beyond my understanding. Follow in the pawsteps of your father and you will be unstoppable."

Shadepaw, on the verge of collapsing, glared back. She couldn't think of what to say. So she said the most pettiest thing that came to mind.

"Don't tell me what to do."

The blow hit her hard on the side of the head and Shadepaw was flung to the ground, a burst of sharp pain ran through her brain as the forest floor tilted from side to side. Black was creeping on the edge of her vision as she attempted to get back on her paws.

"Shadepaw!" Cried Emberpaw, who was coming into view.

Shadepaw was too slow to yell her warning as three cats weighed down on the ginger she-cat who had been running towards her.

"Emberpaw!" She yelled back as the apprentice vanished under a mass of fur and claws.

When it was over, her ginger form was lying limp on the ground.

"You lose," whispered Ivyfall in her ear.

Shadepaw attempted to crawl over to her friend, her legs to weak to let her stand. She was stopped by a paw on her head which undeniably belonged to Ivyfall.

But it caused her so much pain to just let her friend bleed out alone.

She put the last of her energy into one illusion.

* * *

Her neck was gushing blood at a rate that no medecine cat could cure. Her vision was fading fast as she stared up at the sky, seeing nothing but clouds.

Emberpaw wasn't going to make it. She had known it earlier and had accepted it.

But it still hurt. It was unbearable. Her body wouldn't let her move. She felt completely paralysed but could still feel the warm blood oozing out of the wound trickling down her neck. And the agony of it all! It was like having all of her fur ripped off.

She was dying.

And she wished she would die quicker.

So the pain would end.

Then, in the corner of her eye, the large, grey, broad-shouldered figure of a tom appeared.

"Dad," she tried to say, but it came out as a groan.

Stormpelt stood over her, smiling down at her with sweet, loving eyes. She attempted to reach out a paw to touch him, but her body wouldn't move. She felt content, at peace. The agony ebbed away as she looked back into his eyes.

Deep in a part of her mind, she knew it couldn't be real. She was probably hallucinating or seeing things. Or Shadepaw was making her see things. How she did it, she didn't know, but her best bet was that it was her.

' _Thank you, Shadepaw'_ she breathed in her final breath, ' _it was nice to see dad again.'_

As she exhaled, she let her eyes close.

' _I wish he was really here. I would've liked to feel his fur.'_

She stopped breathing.

' _He always had soft fur,'_ was her last thought.

And then she stopped thinking entirely.

* * *

 **A/N: I was feeling emotional today, so I managed to pump this chapter out in an hour. Hahaha, that scene was fucking harrowing. But I thought Emberpaw deserved to have a happy last moment.**


End file.
